>  1          »-• 

'^ 

FREEDMENS 

! 

AFFAIRS 

IN 

^NORTH    CAROLINA. 

1864- 

•5. 

1 

ANNUAL  REPORT 

OF    THE 

SUPERINTENDENT   OF   NEGRO  AEEAIRS 

IN 

NORTH    CAROLINA. 

18  6  4. 
WITH   AN   APPENDIX, 


CONTAINING    THE 


HISTORY  AND  MANAGEMENT   OF   THE   FREEDMEN  IN  THIS 
DEPARTMENT   UP   TO   JUNE   1ST,   1865. 


BY 
REV.    HORACE    JAMES, 

SUPERINTENDENT,    ETC. 


BOSTON: 

W.    F.    BROWN    &    CO.,    PRINTERS, 

No.      15      CORNHILL. 


PREFATORY     NOTICE. 

It  is  but  reasonable  that  the  people  of  the  North,  who  have  so  liberally 
supphcd  the  means  of  alleviating  the  sufferings  of  the  negroes  made  free  by 
the  war,  should  be  permitted  to  receive  full  and  official  statements  respect- 
ing this  pecuHar  interest,  from  those  who  have  been  entrusted  with  its  man- 
agement. 

It  is  to  gratify  their  wishes,  and  at  the  same  time  to  extend  more  widely 
the  knowledge  of  these  peojale's  wants  and  condition,  that  this  document  is 
presented  to  the  public.  Believing  it  to  be  a  matter  of  no  particular  impor- 
tance whether  the  facts  are  given  in  the  form  of  a  direct  address  to  the  read- 
er, or  in  the  form  of  a  Report,  heretofore  made  to  the  Department  Com- 
mander, the  latter  mode  is  selected,  presuming  that  it  will  be  more  generally 
satisfactory.  The  results  thus  far  attained  have  been  reached  by  sheer 
experience.  We  had  no  precedents.  But  it  is  hoped  that  the  record  of 
these  labors  may  be  deemed  a  contribution,  of  some  trifling  value,  to  the 
history  of  a  great  movement,  and  be  made  of  use  to  other  workers  in  the 

same  field. 

H.J. 


ANNUAL   REPORT. 


New  Berne,  North  Caroi.tna, 
January  1st,  1865. 

Major  George  J.  Carney,  A.  Q.3I.,  Siipt.  Gen.  of  Negro  Affairs, 

Department  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina. 

Sir  :  In  this,  my  Annual  Report,  I  crave  your  indulgence  in 
making  an  occasional  reference  to  events  which  occurred  pre- 
vious to  the  year  1864,  it  being  essential  alike  to  a  clear  state- 
ment of  facts,  and  a  just  estimate  of  my  official  labors. 

The  portions  of  North  Carolina  heretofore  held  by  our  army 
have  been  the  towns  of  New  Berne,  Beaufort,  Washington,  and 
Plymouth ;  Hatteras  Banks,  from  Oregon  Inlet  southward  to 
Cape  Lookout,  and  Roanoke  Island.  There  is  also  a  tract  of 
debatable  territory,  along  the  route  of  the  New  Berne  and  Beau- 
fort Railroad,  some  38  miles  long,  and  from  two  to  six  broad, 
embracing  the  stations  of  Morehead  city,  Carolina  city,  Newport 
Barracks,  Newport,  Havelock,  and  Croatan.  But  the  tenure  of 
the  soil  is  so  uncertain  in  this  region,  on  account  of  rebel  raids 
and  the  incursions  of  guerillas,  that  few  people  reside  upon  it, 
except  in  the  vicinity  of  the  railroad  stations. 

The  census  taken  one  year  ago  showed  the  colored  people 
witliin  our  lines  to  be  distributed  as  follows : 


January, 

,  1864. 

Living  in  New  Berne  and  vicinity, 

.     8,591 

"        "    Beaufort          " 

a 

2,426 

"        "    Washington     " 

it. 

.     2,741 

"        "   Roanoke  Island 

a 

2,712 

"        "    Plymouth 

a 

860 

"       on  Hatteras  Banks, 

• 

89 

Total, 


17,419 


i 


4  ANNUAL  EEPORT   OF   THE   SUPERINTENDENT 

The  census  just  completed  shows  them  to  be  now  located  as 
follows : 

January,  1865. 
Living  in  New  Berne  and  vicinity        .         .     10,782 
"        "    Beaufort  "  "  .         .         3,245 

"        "    Plymouth         "  "  .         .  94 

"        "   Roanoke  Island  "  .         .         3,091 

"       on  Hatteras  Banks,      ....  95 


Total, 17,307 

A  glance  at  these  localities  and  figures  reveals  the  fact  that 
gi-eat  changes  have  occurred  during  the  year,  and  thereby  indi- 
cates the  nature  of  the  difficulties  with  which  we  have  to  con- 
tend. The  fact  is  that  nothing  can  be  relied  on  in  this  District, 
except  the  certainty  of  change.  What  with  confederate  troops, 
guerillas,  small  pox  and  yellow  fever,  the  negroes  (and  poor 
whites  as  well)  have  been  tossed  upon  a  sea  of  troubles,  and  our 
care  of  them  has  assumed  a  new  phase  almost  every  month. 

Many  of  our  friends  at  the  North  do  not  realize  how  little  ter- 
ritory our  army  holds  in  North  Carolina. 

We  control,  indeed,  a  broad  area  of  navigable  waters,  and 
command  the  approaches  from  the  sea,  but  have  scarcely  room 
enough  on  land  to  spread  our  tents  upon.  Our  base  is  three  hun- 
dred miles  away,  at  Fort  Monroe ;  or  farther  still.  New  York ; 
and  but  for  a  bi-weekly  transport  and  an  occasional  mail  we 
should  be  nowhere. 

The  management  of  the  Freedmen's  affairs  in  North  Carolina 
would  have  been  more  gratifying  to  their  friends,  and  to  ourselves 
also,  if  we  could  have  operated  upon  a  larger  area.  If  land  had 
been  accessible  on  which  to  settle  the  negroes,  it  would  have  pre- 
vented huddling  them  together  in  the  fortified  towns  and  in  tem- 
porary camps.  But  there  was  left  us  no  alternative.  Some  of  the 
more  fearless  among  them  did  indeed  venture  to  hire  tracts  of 
land  a  little  way  out  of  the  towns,  or  on  the  "  debatable  terri- 
tory "  along  the  Railroad  and  the  Neuse,  and  attempt  the  cul- 
ture of  cotton  or  corn,  or  the  making  of  turpentine  ;  but  it  was 
done  at  the  risk  of  capture,  and  in  some  instances,  the  experiment 
cost  the  poor  fellows  their  liberty,  in  others,  their  lives.  Under 
all  these  disadvantages  and  discouragements,  it  is  a  marvel  that 

is; 


OF  NEGRO   AFFAIRS   IN   NORTH   CAROLINA.  5 

SO  many  colored  men  should  have  engaged  in  agriculture,  or 
turpentine  farming,  upon  lands  leased  of  the  government,  through 
the  Special  Supervising  Agent  of  the  Treasury.  It  appears  from 
his  records  that  a  majority  of  the  leases  given  by  him  have  been 
taken  by  colored  persons,  and  the  premises  have  varied  in  size 
from  a  single  acre  to  a  whole  plantation.  The  negroes  prefer 
turpentine  farming  to  cotton  raising,  less  capital  being  necessary, 
and  the  cash  returns  being  quicker.  The  trees,  after  being  boxed , 
begin  to  produce  turpentine  immediately,  and  the  boxes  are 
dipped  four  or  five  times  in  a  season.  The  results  of  the  first 
dipping  being  put  in  barrels,  and  sent  to  market  before  midsum- 
mer, it  is  not  necessary  to  wait  imtil  autumn  before  realizing 
any  gains  by  the  operation.  Negroes  have  hired  from  the  Treas- 
ury Agent  from  3,000  to  10,000  trees  apiece.  One  plantation 
near  Havelock,  leased  by  a  white  man,  contains  120,000  trees, 
and  not  less  than  125  colored  hands  were  employed  upon  it,  at 
wages  varying  from  fifteen  to  thirty-five  dollars  per  mouth.  On 
the  Ball  Plantation,  near  New  Berne,  about  fifty  negroes  were 
given  employment  in  raising  cotton.  Upon  all  these  planta- 
tions the  results  were  favorable,  and  the  crops  (thanks  to  our 
generals,  who  kept  the  rebel  armies  well  employed  elsewhere) 
were  secured  and  marketed  safely.  It  is  impossible  for  me  to 
give  in  figures  the  results  of  this  labor  of  the  freedmen.  But 
this  may  be  said,  with  an  assurance  of  stating  the  matter  within 
the  bounds  of  truth.  Two  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand 
dollars  (1275,000)  were  paid  during  the  last  year  to  colored 
employees,  upon  these  cotton  and  turpentine  plantations,  in  cash, 
or  in  its  equivalents,  clothing,  food,  and  domestic  supplies.  More 
than  twelve  hundred  laborers  were  thus  employed,  ministering 
by  their  toil  to  the  support  of  not  less  than  5,000  colored  people. 
When  this  process  can  be  carried  on  in  extenso,  the  "  negro  ques- 
tion "  need  give  political  economists  no  more  perplexity.  Make 
them  lords  of  the  land,  and  everything  else  will  naturally  follow. 
There  is  more  land  lying  waste  in  Eastern  North  Carolina,  than 
is  needed  to  support,  in  independence,  ten  times  the  negro  pop- 
ulation now  within  our  lines. 

To  present  a  full  record  of  our  operations  during  the  year,  the 
several  localities  must  be  taken  up  in  detail.     The  headquarters 


6 


ANNUAL  REPORT   OF   THE   SUPERINTENDENT 


of  the  District,  and  largest  rendezvous  of  colored  people,  will 
come  first  under  review. 

NEW    BERNE. 

New  Berne  contains  at  present  10,782  negroes,  of  whom 
6,560  reside  in  the  town,  2,708  in  a  freedmen's  village,  just 
across  the  Trent  river,  and  the  remainder  (1,424)  in  the  near 
vicinity  of  the  town.  Most  of  these  people  are  refugees  from 
slavery,  not  more  than  one  sixth  of  them  having  been  residents 
of  New  Berne  before  the  war.  They  have  followed  our  various 
military  expeditions  on  their  return  to  New  Berne  from  the 
interior,  or  have  stolen  in  singly,  or  m  squads,  from  time  to 
time.  Every  week  makes  some  small  addition  to  the  number. 
The  new  comers  often  find  relatives  in  town,  who  give  them 
shelter  until  they  can  obtain  employment,  and  provide  them- 
selves with  quarters.  The  able-bodied  men  mostly  enlist.  The 
families  of  all  who  enter  the  army  are  provided,  by  orders  from 
headquarters  with  government  rations,  and  it  is  a  part  of  my 
duty  to  see  that  these  are  duly  issued.  n 

The  following  is  the  ration  for  dependent  negroes.  It  is  a  tri- 
fle smaller  than  the  soldiers'  ration,  embraces  fewer  articles,  and 
costs  at  this  time  but  20  cents,  while  the  soldiers'  ration  costs 

6  cents. 

Tlie  Ration  of  Dependents  and  unemployed  Negroes. 

10  oz.  Pork  or  Bacon,  or  1  lb.  Fresh  or  Salt  Beef. 

1  lb.  Corn  Meal,  five  times  a  week. 

1  lb.  Flour  or  Soft  Bread,  or  12  oz.  Hard  Bread,  twice  a  week. 

10  lbs.  Beans,  Peas,  or  Hominy,  8  lbs.  Sugar,  2  qts.  Vinegar, 
8  oz.  Candles,  2  lbs.  Soap,  2  lbs.  Salt,  15  lbs.  Potatoes,  when 
practicable,  to  every  100  rations. 

And  for  women  and  children,  10  lbs.  Coffee  (Rye),  or  15  oz. 
Tea,  to  every  100  rations. 

Thirteen  hundred  and  fifty-one  members  of  colored  soldiers 
families  are  now  fed  in  New  Berne,  660  being  adults,  and  691 
children.  The  full  ration,  as  above  given,  is  issued  to  adults,  and 
half  rations  to  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  wives  and  children  of  soldiers,  I  am  now  supplying 


OF  NEGRO   AFFAIRS   IN   NORTH   CAROLINA.  i 

food  to  2,149  persons  in  New  Berne  who  are  very  poor,  or  aged, 
infirm,  widows  or  orphans,  or  for  other  reasons  dependent  on  the 
charity  of  government.  This  class  of  persons  is  therefore  twenty- 
three  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number  of  colored  people  residing 
here.  They  are  not  supplied  with  the  full  "  dependents'  ration," 
but  furnished  with  "  necessary  sustenance,"  in  such  quantities  as 
they  absolutely  require. 

Previously  to  the  year  1864,  the  colored  refugees  who  could 
not  find  quarters  among  their  friends  in  town,  were  placed  in. 
camps  or  settlements  a  little  out  of  town.  Of  these  there  were 
three,  two  of  them  being  located  a  mile  or  two  outside  of  our 
interior  line  of  fortifications.  In  these  two  camps  lived  about 
1,800  people.  When  the  rebel  insurgents  under  Gen.  Pick- 
ett attacked  New  Berne  in  February  last,  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  from  these  camps  came  rushing  wildly  into  town,  struck 
with  fear,  and  feeling  as  keen  a  sense  of  danger  as  if  they  had 
been  actually  returned  by  force  to  their  old  masters.  And  why 
should  they  not?  Our  outposts  were  driven  in,  the  garrison  was 
weak,  the  gun-boat  "  Underwriter  "  was  burnt  by  the  foe  right 
under  the  guns  of  our  forts,  and  the  negroes  themselves  were 
called  to  the  breast-works  to  repel  the  common  danger,  with 
extemporized  military  organizations,  and  a  hasty  equipment. 
For  a  day  or  two  things  looked  very  blue  hereabouts,  but  the 
exigency  passed  by  with  the  loss  of  some  hundreds  of  prisoners, 
one  section  of  a  light  battery,  and  more  brave  officers  and  men 
than  we  could  afford  to  spare.  Major  Gen.  Peck  being  then 
absent  on  leave,  the  defense  of  the  town  was  made  by  Brig. 
Gen.  I.  N.  Palmer,  who  performed  the  task  with  signal  ability. 
He  highly  complimented  the  negroes,  who  took  to  the  trenches, 
to  tlie  number  of  1,200,  with  the  alacrity  of  old  soldiers. 

This  attack  made  it  manifest  that  the  colored  people  were 
not  safe  in  their  camps.  A  number  of  them  were  captured 
within  two  miles  of  the  city,  some  were  killed,  and  all  driven 
from  their  homes.  Consequently,  Gen.  Peck,  on  his  return, 
ordered  me  to  remove  both  these  settlements,  and  consolidate 
the  three  upon  the  site  of  the  one  which  lay  w'thin  our  interior 
fortifications,  just  over  the  Trent  River  bridge.  It  was  immedi- 
ately done.  Streets  were  run  out,  and  lots  assigned,  fifty  feet 
by  sixty,  allowing  a  little  garden  spot  to  each  house  ;  and  now 


8  ANNUAL  REPORT   OF  THE   SUPERINTENDENT 

upwards  of  eight  hundred  houses  are  standing  upon  this  area, 
disposed  in  an  orderly  manner,  and  sheltering  two  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  ninety-eight  freedmen. 

Of  these,  1,226  receive  help  from  the  government,  as  depend- 
ents. The  whole  settlement  is  under  charge  of  Mr.  L.  J.  Howell, 
whose  ability  and  tact  make  him  a  valuable  helper  in  negro 
affaii's.  His  services,  for  more  than  two  years,  are  deserving  of 
honorable  mention. 

If  we  must  have  camps,  or  African  villages,  in  which  tempo- 
rarily to  shelter  and  feed  refuges  from  bondage,  this  settlement, 
located  healthfully  on  the  banks  of  the  Trent,  is  a  model  for 
imitation.  Its  headquarters,  where  reside  the  superintendent, 
his  assistant,  and  some  of  the  female  teachers,  its  hospital  build- 
ings, at  one  extremity,  overlooking  the  river  shore,  its  black- 
smith's shop,  cook-houses,  camp  stables,  and  variety  store,  its 
comfortable  dwellings,  its  well-filled  schools  and  churches,  its 
neatness,  comfort  and  order,  conspire  to  make  it  a  happy  home 
for  many  a  panting  fugitive,  in  which  he  may  learn  the  first 
lesson  of  a  higher  social  life. 

The  gardens,  though  small,  were  wonderfully  productive,  and 
furnished  for  the  cultivators  thousands  of  bushels  of  green  vegeta- 
bles. It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  sandy  soil  of  Eastern  North 
Carolina  is  a  sterile  soil.  Though  it  looks  unpromising,  it  con- 
tains an  admixture  of  the  carbonate  and  phosphate  of  lime,  from 
the  detritus  of  old  shells  and  marine  substances,  which  makes  it 
quite  productive.  The  white  refugees  in  a  neighboring  camp, 
composed  of  better  houses  and  standing  on  better  soil,  neglected 
to  raise  anything  themselves,  but  purchased  vegetables  freely  of 
the  negroes.  In  some  cases,  their  corn,  fifteen  feet  high,  quite 
overtopped  their  houses. 

On  the  first  and  second  days  in  May,  this  village  received  an 
accession  of  upwards  of  two  thousand  new  comers,  from  Little 
Washington. 

Our  army  had  evacuated  that  post,  after  the  fall  of  Plymouth, 
and  the  colored  people,  true  to  the  instinct  of  liberty,  followed 
the  troops  to  New  Berne  and  Beaufort.  They  quickly  settled 
themselves,  and  seemed  as  happy  as  before.  Tents  were  pitched 
for  them  at  first,  which  were  occupied  until  cabins  could  be  con- 
structed of  "  shakes,"  an  article  well-known  in  this  region,  be- 


OF   NEGRO   AFFAIRS   IN   NORTH   CAROLINA.  » 

ing  a  short  board,  four  or  five  feet  long,  split  out  by  hand.  The 
negro  is  always  jolly,  and  when  driven  out  of  one  home,  he  will 
"  tote  "  his  bmall  inventory  of  household  stuff  upon  his  head, 
until  he  finds  a  place  in  which  to  estabhsh  another.  He  goes 
forth  like  Abraham,  journeying  for  "  de  promus  land."  The 
soldier  under  orders  does  not  strike  his  tent  with  more  alacrity, 
or  sing  with  more  unconcern,  when  he  knows  not  where  he  shall 
next  lay  his  head. 

Large  numbers  of  white  refugees,  also,  left  their  homes  at  the 
same  time  with  the  negroes.    Many  of  them  belonged  to  families 
of  North  Carolina  soldiers  in  the  Union  army.   Dr.  J.  W.  Page,  of 
the  Sanitary  Commission,  was  appointed  their  Supejintendent, 
and  admirably  has  he  discharged  the  duties  of  his  trust.    It  was 
mainly  through  his  care  that  these  poor  people  were  kept  from 
actual  starvation,  so  helpless  were  they,  so  totally  unable  to 
rally  from  the  depression  of  spirits  consequent  upon  their  sudden 
change  of  life  and  their  great  deprivations.     They  have  been 
dependent  upon  charity  from  that  day  to  this.     They  did  not 
build  ther  own  houses,  but  were  placed  in  soldiers'  barracks. 
It  is  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Page,  with  whom  I  have  had  frequent 
conferences  on  topics  connected  with  our  kindred  work,  and 
who  has  himself  resided  years  at  the  South,  that  the  "  piney 
woods  "  people,  the  "  clay  eaters,"  or  whatever  name  be  given 
to  the  poor  whites  of  the  South,  are  a  more  helpless  and  spirit- 
less race  than  the  negroes  of  the  same  section,  and  indeed,  natu- 
rally inferior  to  them.     They  have  more  pride,  but  less  activity  ; 
they  make  more  pretension,  but  possess  fewer  mental  resources. 
Being  unused  to  labor,  they  know  nothing  of  its  processes,  and 
are  therefore  incapable  of  self-support.     From  twelve  to  four- 
teen hundred  of  them  have  been  fed  by  government,  in  Beaufort 
and  vicinity,  while  only  three  or  four  hundred  negroes  have  re 
ceived  aid  in  the  same  sub-district,  the  whole  number  of  each 
being  nearly  equal.     In  New  Berne,  where  there  are  more  than 
eight  thousand  colored  refugees,  but  Uttle  more  than  three  thou-  , 
sand  eat  government  bread. 

But  the  whole  body  of  white  refugees  are  the  nation's  guests. 
This  does  not  prove  that  "  the  negro  is  better  than  the  white 
man,"  but  rather  that  labor  is  honorable,  and  tends  to  indepen- 
dence. 


10  ANNUAL  EEPORT   OF   THE   SUPEEINTENDENT 

Many  who  were  at  first  settled  in  this  camp  have  left  it  to 
live  in  town,  where  they  can  better  obtain  work,  or  to  reside 
upon  farms,  or  to  migrate  northward.  As  many  as  could  be  in- 
duced to  go  North,  and  for  whom  places  could  be  found  as 
household  servants,  have  been  assisted  to  go.  But  they  much 
prefer  to  live  in  the  warmer  climate  of  the  South. 

At  the  time  of  the  evacuation  of  Washington,  this  camp  con- 
tained fully  four  thousand  people.  In  September  last,  two  hun- 
dred men  were  taken  from  it,  at  one  time,  and  sent  to  labor  in 
Virginia.  This,  with  the  gradual  depletion  alluded  to  a])ove, 
leaves  in  it  now  but  twenty-eight  hundred  residents.  More  than 
half  of  thase  belong  to  families  of  men  working  in  the  Quarter- 
master's or  Engineer  department,  or  laboring  on  their  own  ac- 
count, and  maintained  at  their  own  charges.  Fully  a  thousand  of 
them,  however,  onght  to  be  sown  thinlij  upon  the  soil.  Let  our  ar- 
my open  the  way,  and  we  will  do  it  in  this  neighborhood.  If  not, 
arrangements  are  in  progress  to  do  it  elsewhere.  To  manage 
such  a  camp,  and  keep  it  orderly,  tidy,  and  healthful,  is  very 
difficult,  because  it  is  against  nature,  opposed  to  the  maxims  of 
social  economy,  abnormal  and  unprofitable  ;  yet  it  may  be  tol- 
erated in  disturbed  times,  while  we  fight  and  wait,  and  pray  for 
peace,  with  enlargement  and  liberty. 

In  the  town  of  New  Berne,  within  the  rude  triangle  formed 
by  the  rivers  Neuse  and  Trent  on  two  sides,  and  our  line  of  for- 
tifications on  the  other,  are  6,560  colored  people.  The  town 
contained  in  1860,  5,482  inhabitants,  white  and  colored.  Nearly 
the  whole  of  the  white  population  abandoned  the  place  before 
our  army  entered  it.  The  most  valuable,  active,  and  useful  of 
the  slaves  were  compelled  to  accompany  their  masters. 

But  the  free  blacks  generally  remained,  not  having  the  fear 
of  "  the  Yankees  "  before  their  eyes.  They  are  all  self-supporting. 
Others  have  come  in,  and  among  them  many  mechanics  and 
skilled  laborers,  so  that  New  Berne  has  now  a  good  supply  of 
tradesmen,  in  nearly  all  the  different  branches  essential  to 
social  prosperity.  There  are  carpenters,  caulkers,  shipwrights, 
blacksmiths,  masons,  shoemakers,  coopers,  mill-wrights,  engineers, 
carriage-makers,  painters,  barbers,  tailors,  draymen,  grocers, 
cooks,  hucksters,  butchers,  gardeners,  fishermen,  oyster-men, 
sailors,  and    boatmen,  with  the  usual    supply  of  doctors  and 


OF  NEGRO  AFFAIRS  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA.         11 

preachers.  Some  of  these  people  are  becoming  rich  ;  all  are 
doing  well  for  themselves,  even  in  these  times.  They  evince  a 
capacity  for  business,  and  exhibit  a  degree  of  thrift  and  shrewd- 
ness, which  are  ample  security  for  their  future  progress,  if  they 
are  allowed  an  equal  chance  with  their  fellow-men. 

In  order  to  obtain  some  facts  upon  which  I  might  estimate 
the  amount  of  earnings  to  be  credited  to  these  free  and  freed 
people,  I  posted  a  handbill  in  New  Berne,  requesting  such 
colored  people  as  were  not  employed  by  government,  but  were 
pursuing  some  trade,  profession,  or  calling  on  their  own 
account,  to  report  at  my  office  the  amount  of  their  income  or 
earnings  during  the  year  1864.  The  result  will  interest  the 
friends  of  the  ucgro,  and  indicate  their  ability  to  support  them- 
selves. 

Three  hundred  and  five  persons,  nearly  all  males,  made 
returns  in  response  to  my  request,  reporting  a  gross  amount  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty-one  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty-two 
dollars,  (151,562.) 

The  number  reporting  from  $500  to  $1,000  income  was  110. 

"  "  "  upwards  of    1,000     "  "      18. 

«  «  «  «        "     2,000     "         "        4. 

«  «  "  «        "     3,000     "  "        2. 

The  largest  income  reported  was  $3,150.     This  was  derived 

from  the  turpentine  business,  as  indeed  were  most  of  the  larger 

incomes  reported,  which  varied  from  300  to  more  than  3,000 

dollars.     The  average  of  all  the  incomes  reported  is  $496.92,  a 

trifle  short  of  five  hmidred  dollars. 

It  is  common  for  newspapers  at  the  North,  to  print  the  names 
of  a  few  of  those  whose  incomes  are  the  largest ;  but  as  there  is 
no  local  newspaper  here  ready  to  perform  this  service  for  the 
freedmen,  I  shall  be  compelled  to  do  it  in  this  Report. 

George  Hargate,  turpentine  farmer,  .  .  .  $3,000 
Ned  Huggins,  tar  and  turpentine,  .  .  .  3,150 
E.  H.  Hill,  "  missionary  and  trader,"  .  .  .  2,000 
W.  A.  Ives,  carpenter  and  grocer,  .  .  .  2,400 
George  Gordon,  turpentine,  .....  1,500 
Adam  Hymen,  "  ....         1,300 

Samuel  Collins,  dry  goods  and  groceries,  .  .  1,200 
Benjamin  Whitefield,  grocery  and  eating  house,  .         1,500 


li 

ti 

n 

il 

i. 

a 

il 

it 

u 

li 

12  ANNUAL  REPORT   OP   THE   SUPERINTENDENT 

Hasty  Chadwick,  turpentine, .....  $1,000 

Limber  Lewis,  staves,  wood,  and  shingles,    .         .  1,500 

George  Physic,  grocer,  ......  1,500 

Sylvester  Mackay,  undertaker,    ....  1,000 

Charles  Bryan,  carter, 1,000 

John  H.  Heath,  shoemaker,        ....  1,000 

William  Long,  lumberman,     .....  1,200 

John  Bryan,  cotton  farming,         ....  1,100 

Hogan  Cancdy,  cooper  and  tarmaker,        .         .         .  1,000 

Danzey  Heath,  grocer  and  baker,              .         .         .  1,500 

The  average  income  reported  by  the  barbers,  is      .  $675 

"  blacksmiths,  468 
"  masons,  .  .  402 
"  carpenters,  .  510 
"  grocers,  .  .  678 
"  coopers,  .  418 
"         "  "  "  "  turpentine  farmers,  446 

To  offset  these  more  thrifty  people,  with  whom  I  have  had 
officially  nothing  to  do  but  to  rejoice  in  their  prosperity,  there 
exists  another  class,  and  it  is  at  present  and  must  be  for  some 
time  to  come  much  the  larger  one,  who  by  dint  of  perseverance 
and  industry  earn  a  few  dollars  every  month,  and  would  be  glad 
to  support  themselves  in  independence.  They  are  not  wanting 
in  self-respect,  and  scorn  to  be  beggars.  But  their  few  dollars 
will  not  feed  and  clothe  them  at  sutlers'  and  Jews'  prices.  If 
they  could  purchase  a  comfortable  garment  for  three  dollars, 
they  would  wear  it  out  in  honest  pride,  and  have  a  dime  left  for 
the  daily  loaf,  and  a  trifle  for  bacon  and  corn  meal.  But  if  they 
must  pay  ten  dollars  for  the  garment,  nothing  remains  for  them 
but  to  suffer  hunger,  or  to  beg. 

Philanthropy  can  do  no  better  thing  for  people  in  such  a  con- 
dition, than  to  furnish  them  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  to  some 
extent,  its  comforts,  not  as  a  gift,  but  by  purchase,  at  low  rates. 

Some  persons,  who  know  about  as  little  of  the  principles  of 
political  economy  as  they  do  of  the  pure  spirit  of  religion,  are 
ready  to  charge  with  covetousness  and  extortion  the  persons 
who  come  out  to  do  good  to  the  oppressed,  and  bring  them  things 
to  sell ! 


OF  NEGRO   AFFAIRS  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA. 


IS 


T^ey  ought  to  know  that  he  who  brings  the  essentials  of  life 
to  the  door  of  the  poor,  at  prices  within  their  reach,  putting  it 
in  their  power  to  live  within  their  scanty  income,  has  done  more 
for  them,  very  much  more,  than  has  he  who  feeds  and  clothes 
them  as  a  gratuity.  He  has  satisfied  their  wants,  and  at  the 
same  time  stimulated  their  better  nature.  He  has  done  that 
which  promotes  their  manhood,  instead  of  inviting  them  to  be 
mendicants. 

It  is  with  this  end  in  view  that  we  have  established  a  cheap 
store  for  the  colored  people,  where  those  who  are  utterly  desti- 
tute, the  refugees  newly  arrived,  the  sick,  the  infirm,  and  young 
children  who  are  orphans,  may  receive  freely  from  our  stores, 
to  the  full  extent  of  their  need  ;  but  where  those  who  have  a 
little  money  in  their  purses  may  make  it  largely  available,  in 
answering  the  questions,  what  shall  we  eat,  and  wherewithal 
shall  we  be  clothed  ? 

The  goods  which  have  been  sent  us  for  donation  by  the  .vari- 
ous Freedmen's  Societies,  and  by  benevolent  individuals  at  the 
North,  have  been  here  unpacked  and  sorted,  and  such  as  were 
consigned  to  me  have  been  distributed  by  gift,  or  sale,  accord- 
ing to  the  condition  and  needs  of  each  individual  applicant. 
This  process  requires  at  once  judgment,  penetration,  firmness, 
and  great  kindness,  on  the  part  of  those  who  engage  in  it. 

This  District  has  been  fortunate  in  having  at  the  head  of  this 
branch  Mr.  Horatio  Leavitt,  of  Boston,  a  gentleman  who  com- 
bines these  qualities  in  an  eminent  degree,  and  who,  with  his 
worthy  associates,  Mr.  John  B.  Bonnell,  and  Mrs.  Lucretia  W. 
Johnson,  has  managed  this  business  admirably. 

The  gratuitous  distribution  of  clothing  during  the  whole  win- 
ter and  spring,  was  made  in  person  by  Miss  Eliza  P.  Perkins,  of 
Norwich,  Ct.,  a  lady  whose  cheerful  benevolence  of  heart  led  her 
to  devote  her  energies,  without  compensation,  and  most  untir- 
ingly, to  this  perplexing  and  difficult  work. 

The  donations  made  from  this  office,  during  the  colder 
months,  were  as  follows  : 

In  January  1864,  4,120  garments,  valued  at  $2,351.25 
"  February    "     3,917  "  "  1,986.45 

"  March        "     2,514  "  "  1,386.70 

«  April  "     2,091  "  "  1,853.10 


14  ANNUAL  REPORT  OF  THE  SUPERINTENDENT 

Some  of  these  were  sent  to  other  towns  and  posts  in  this  Dis- 
trict, many  were  used  in  supplying  the  sufferers  from  small  pox, 
many  went  to  hospitals,  and  many  were  given  to  men,  women 
and  children,  who  timidly  approached  our  picket  lines,  faint, 
weary,  tattered,  their  rags  pinned  together  with  thorns,  their 
feet  and  heads  bare,  or  half  concealed  by  some  grotesque  apol- 
ogy for  shoe  or  hat.  These  would  seem  to  be  the  proper  sub- 
jects for  charity. 

A  portion  of  the  gratuitous  distribution,  and  an  increasing 
one  of  late,  has  been  done  by  the  teachers  of  colored  schools,  to 
whom  their  friends  have  sent  out  boxes  of  clothing,  new  or  old, 
with  which  they  have  aided  especially  the  pupils  of  their  schools. 
Garments  for  females  and  children  are  principally  in  demand. 

Supplies,  both  for  gratuities  and  sales,  have  been  liberally 
sent  to  this  District  by  the  Freedmen's  Associations  at  Boston, 
New  York,  and  Philadelphia.  The  National  Freedmen's  Relief 
Association  has  mainly  supplied  the  miscellaneous  goods  for 
sale  to  these  people.  To  their  generous  kindness  we  are  largely 
indebted  for  clothing,  new  and  second  hand,  and  for  mechanical 
tools,  garden  seeds,  school  books  and  school  furniture  of  various 
kinds,  nails,  glass,  sashes,  stoves,  hardware,  earthen  ware,  gro- 
ceries and  dry  goods. 

The  sales  during  the  year  did  not  fall  short  of  $  25,000,00. 
If  transportation  for  the  goods  had  been  more  readily  procurable 
at  New  York,  they  would  have  been  largely  in  advance  of  this 
figure.  The  funds  derived  from  this  source,  beyond  what  were 
necessary  to  pay  the  wages  of  the  three  persons  managing  the 
business,  were  returned  to  the  Freedmen's  Societies  for  reinvest- 
ment, or  put  into  a  fund  which  is  devoted  scrupulously  to  the 
use  and  advantage  of  the  colored  people.  In  pursuing  the  pol- 
icy indicated  above,  we  have  often  given  away  articles  which 
were  furnished  us  for  sale,  and  sometimes  have  sold  goods  which 
were  sent  for  gratuitous  distribution.  We  have  been  guided  by 
this  one  rule :  "  What  will  promote  the  highest  welfare  of  these 
people  ?"  and  in  its  application  have  ased  the  best  judgment  we 
could  summon  on  the  spot. 

The  military  authorities  and  Treasury  Agents  have  permit- 
ted these  supplies  to  come  to  the  District,  in  government  trans- 
ports, without  the  usual  charge  of  three  per  cent,  for  internal 


OP   NEGRO   AFFAIRS   IN   NORTH    CAROLINA.  15 

revenue.  As  they  were  furnished  by  our  friends  at  cost,  and 
usually  purchased  very  low  by  taking  advantage  of  fluctuations 
in  the  market,  we  have  been  able  to  dispose  of  them  at  a  large 
discount  from  the  ruling  prices  in  New  Berne. 

Still  another  branch  of  my  operations  in  aid  of  the  freedmen 
during  the  last  year,  was  furnishing  commissary  stores  or  ra- 
tions to  government  employees,  on  certificates  of  indebtedness 
from  their  employers,  with  which  to  feed  their  families  until 
pay-day  came.  The  wages  of  perhaps  two  thousand  colored  men, 
employed  liy  quartermasters,  engineers,  &c.,  on  behalf  of  the 
government,  were  from  four  to  six  months  in  arrears.  For  the 
laborers  themselves  rations  were  furnished,  but  their  wives  and 
children  had  nothing  to  eat,  and  nothing  with  which  to  buy 
food.  Under  these  circumstances,  I  was  permitted,  hj  the  com- 
manding General,  to  buy  food,  in  bulk,  of  the  chief  commissary, 
for  cash,  and  furnish  it  to  these  people  on  credit,  taking  the  risk 
of  being  reimbursed  when  they  should  be  paid  off.  These  pur- 
chases reached  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars.  As  is  the  case 
in  most  philanthropic  transactions,  the  reward  came  in  the  satis- 
faction of  having  extended  timely  relief,  but  with  pecuniary  loss 
to  the  agents.  The  death  of  some  parties,  and  the  removal  of 
others  to  Virginia  and  elsewhere,  will  leave  the  account  several 
hundred  dollars  deficient.  The  wages  of  most  of  these  men  do 
not  exceed  ten  dollars  per  month,  and  rations,  and  they  rely 
upon  them  for  the  support  of  their  families.  If  payment  be  de- 
layed, they  are  reduced  to  straits. 

After  the  passage  by  Congress  of  the  bill  permitting  the  en- 
listment in  rebel  states  of  soldiers  to  be  counted  upon  the 
quota  of  the  loyal  states  enlisting  them,  the  city  of  New  Berne 
was  flooded  with  recruiting  agents,  and  able-bodied  negroes 
were  in  great  demand.  But  of  the  250  who  were  enlisted  from 
this  District,  and  who  were  said  to  have  received  heavy  bounties, 
few  present  any  appearance  of  having  been  thus  furnished.  Their 
families  are  nearly  as  dependent  on  the  Government  for  food  as 
if  no  bounty  had  been  offered  or  paid,  suggesting  the  suspicion 
that  the  money  found  its  way  into  the  wrong  pocket.  While  some 
of  the  recruiting  agents  in  North  Carolina  were  persons  of  integ- 
rity and  honor,  gentlemen  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  it  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  others  were  scoundrels  of  the  deepest  dye, 


16  ANNUAL   REPORT   OF   THE   SUPERINTENDENT 

who  left  the  District  enriched  with  ill-gotten  gains,  filched  by 
fraud  from  the  ignorant  poor,  who  became  the  easy  dupes  of 
their  knavery. 

Of  the  three  great  scourges  of  mankind,  famine,  pestilence, 
and  war,  this  District  has  suffered  severely  from  two,  the  past 
year.  If  under  these  disadvantages  the  colored  people  have  ac- 
complished anything  for  themselves,  the  fact  is  promising  for 
the  days  of  peace  and  liberty  which  are  yet  to  come. 

During  the  winter,  small  pox  raged  fearfully,  and  in  the  au- 
tumn, yellow  fever  swept  our  city  with  the  besom  of  destruc- 
tion. The  former  disease  proved  more  fatal  to  the  blacks,  the 
latter  to  the  whites.  In  February,  full  fifty  per  week  died  of 
small  pox,  and  in  October  nearly  as  many  per  day,  of  yellow 
fever.  The  small  pox  was  not  arrested  until  the  hospital  for  its 
treatment  had  been  removed  across  the  river  Neuse,  and  the 
patients  separated  from  all  possible  intercourse  with  their  friends. 
It  was  difficult  to  make  them  report  new  cases.  They  would 
frequently  conceal  those  attacked  with  it  under  blankets  and 
beds,  and  hide  them  in  their  houses,  even  after  dissolution  had 
taken  place,  so  gregarious  are  they,  as  they  burrow  together  in 
their  filthy  cabins,  so  ignorant  are  they  of  the  value  of  skilful 
medical  treatment.  This  is  the  sum  of  a  negro's  ailments  —  he 
has  a  "  right  smart  misery  "  somewhere  ;  and  his  materia  medica 
consists  of  roots,  herbs,  and  castor  oil !  It  became  necessary  to 
burn  the  clothing  and  many  of  the  houses  of  the  colored  people 
who  were  attacked  with  this  loathsome  disease.  Those  of  them 
who  went  to  hospital  were  made  comfortable,  were  skilfully 
treated,  carefully  nursed,  and  furnished,  on  leaving,  with  a  new 
suit  of  clothes  throughout ;  yet  they  preferred  to  die  in  rags  at 
home,  rather  than  go  to  hospital.  But  for  the  timely  benefac- 
tions at  that  time  received  from  the  "  Friends"  in  Philadelphia, 
and  from  the  American  Missionary  Association,  hundreds  of 
these  convalescents  would  have  been  naked  and  penniless. 

Of  the  yellow  fever,  in  September,  October,  and  November,  my 
report  need  not  speak  officially,  except  so  far  as  it  reached  the 
colored  population,  and  affected  the  management  of  negro  af- 
fairs. My  office,  like  those  of  other  officers,  was  despoiled,  and 
depleted.  My  chief  clerk,  James  G.  Gardner,  of  Boston,  was 
among  the  earlier  victims  ;  my  assistant  at  Beaufort,  Mr.  Charles 


OF  NEGRO    AFFAIRS   IN   NORTH   CAROLINA.  17 

Page,  of  Danvers,  Mass.,  soon  followed ;  and  later,  my  two 
clerks,  Joseph  C.  and  Nathaniel  P.  Low,  of  Tewksbury,  Mass., 
brothers,  and  the  only  sons  of  their  sorrowing  parents,  were  re- 
moved by  death.  One  was  attacked  with  the  fever ;  the  other 
sped  to  his  side  with  affectionate  ministrations,  took  the  disease, 
and  died  within  twenty-four  hours  of  his  brother. 

Samuel  G.  Champney,  of  Grafton,  Mass.,  a  private  of  the  25th 
Mass.  Reg't,  and  a  man  of  most  estimable  character,  who  had 
been  more  than  a  year  my  transportation  clerk,  having  the 
fever  upon  him,  but  believing  himself  better,  went  north,  only  to 
expire  in  the  harbor  of  New  York,  and  find  a  grave  on  Staten 
Island.  The  plague  also  robbed  us  of  one  of  our  beloved  teach- 
ers, Miss  Elizabeth  M.  Tuttle,  of  Boston,  commissioned  by  the 
N.  E.  Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  but  supported  by  Jas.  M.  Bar- 
nard, Esq.,  of  Boston.  She  was  a  person  of  lovely  character 
and  fine  accomplishments.  With  fearless  and  untiring  zeal, 
she  devoted  herself  to  the  care  of  another,  who  recovered  under 
her  tender  nursing,  while  she  fell  a  sacrifice  to  her  devotion. 

Fortunately  for  the  colored  people,  my  own  health  was  perfect 
during  the  whole  period  in  which  the  town  was  under  embargo ; 
my  office  help  being  reduced  to  two  clerks.  On  the  26th  of  Octo- 
ber, my  turn  came  to  struggle  with  the  pestilence,  but  an  assis- 
tant returned  that  very  day  who  was  able  to  carry  the  business 
along.  Probably  not  less  than  2,500  deaths  occurred  from  yel- 
low fever  and  kindred  malarial  maladies,  of  which  full  1,500 
were  of  white  persons.  As  many  as  one  in  four  of  the  white 
population  of  New  Berne  went  under  the  sod  in  the  short 
space  of  six  weeks. 

The  town,  deserted,  forsaken,  shut  out  from  intercourse  with 
the  world,  unprovided  with  things  essential  to  the  comfort  of 
the  sick  or  the  sustenance  of  the  well,  all  business  suspended, 
except  the  undertaker's,  shutters  closed,  and  troops  forbidden  to 
enter,  left  the  colored  people  in  a  condition  peculiarly  helpless. 
But  the  duties  and  routine  of  my  office  were  not  for  one  day 
omitted. 

Brig.  Gen.  Harland  was  at  this  trying  time  in  command,  and 
faithfully  did  he  maintain  the  order  and  welfare  of  the  city. 
He  smnmoned  the  colored  troops  to  do  guard  duty  in  town,  and 
attend  to  the  burial  of  the  dead.     They  shrank  not  from  the 

2 


18         ANNUAL  REPORT  OF  THE  SUPERINTENDENT 

task.  Fortunate  indeed  were  we  in  securing  their  valuable  ser- 
vices. The  city  of  New  Berne  did  not  contain,  at  this  time, 
white  people  enough  in  a  state  of  health  to  inter  its  own  dead 
with  the  forms  of  Christian  burial.  As  it  was,  not  a  few  were 
left  to  die  alone,  and  were  carried  to  the  grave  without  a  friend 
to  follow  the  hearse,  or  listen  to  the  service.  It  was  my  mourn- 
ful privilege,  at  this  time,  to  conduct  funeral  solemnities  at  the 
grave  of  many  a  brave  officer,  and  many  a  dear  friend.  May  a 
kind  Providence  shield  us  another  season  from  the  poisonous 
breath  of  such  a  pestilence.  It  is  more  terri])le  than  a  battle, 
for  one  is  exposed  to  an  equal  danger,  but  is  sustained  by  no 
sublime  exhilaration. 

The  management  of  negro  affairs' in  this  District  is  especially 
laliorious^  because  the  points  we  hold  are  so  far  removed  from 
one  another. 

From  New  Berne  to  Beaufort  is  38  miles. 
"  "  "  Hatteras  Inlet,  90  miles. 

"  "  "  Washington,  90  miles. 

"  "  "  Roanoke  Island,  130  miles. 

«  "  "  Plymouth,  200  miles. 

These  distances,  except  the  first  named,  are  computed  by  the 
water  route,  the  only  way  open  to  us.  The  distance  overland 
from  New  Berne  to  Washington  is  but  30  miles,  and  to  Ply- 
mouth it  is  70  in  the  same  direction.  The  army  has  never  kept 
open  communication  between  these  places  by  land,  so  much 
easier  and  safer  is  the  water  route,  by  the  beautiful  rivers  and 
sounds  which  gird  this  "  evergreen  shore."  In  the  article  of 
time,  especially  in  the  winter  season,  when  storms  prevail  and 
winds  are,  high,  this  wide  separation  of  posts  is  a  serious  draw- 
back. 

BEAUFORT. 

Between  New  Berne  and  Beaufort  is  kept  up  a  more  intimate 
connection  than  between  any  other  two  posts  we  occupy.  This 
is  owing  to  the  railroad  communication  and  the  daily  train. 
The  terminus  of  the  road  is  two  miles  short  of  the  town,  at 
Morehead  city,  on  the  northern  side  of  the  ship-channel  which 
sweeps  in  at  Old  Topsail  Inlet,  past  the  guns  of  Fort  Macon.    All 


OF   NEGRO   AFFAIRS   IN   NORTH   CAROLINA.  19 

that  appertains  to  Morehead  which  resembles  a  city  is  its  name. 
It  consists  of  two  or  three  large  hotels,  a  General  Hospital,  some 
Commissary  and  Quartermaster's  store-houses,  a  few  private  resi- 
dences, and  four  or  five  hundred  inhabitants.  But  it  is  a  capi- 
tal business  location,  wonderfully  healthy,  having  been  a  sum- 
mer watering-place  for  the  people  of  this  State,  and  destined  to 
be,  after  the  war,  an  important  entrepot  of  commerce  with  the 
interior. 

At  Beaufort  and  Morehead  reside  at  present  fifteen  hundred 
and  ninety-three  (1,593)  colored  people.  Between  the  two 
places  ply  large  numbers  of  small  boats,  meeting  every  train  of 
cars,  and  beating  to  and  fro  in  every  breeze.  They  run  also  to 
Fort  Macon,  Shackleford  Banks,  the  Lighthouse,  Harker's  Is- 
land, and  elsewhere,  there  being  no  other  means  of  locomotion 
in  this  entire  region.  Hence  the  negro  is  here  an  aquatic  ani- 
mal, and  takes  to  the  water  almost  as  readily  as  the  sea  fowl  that 
abound  in  this  vicinity.  Not  less  than  one  hundred  men  are 
constantly  employed  in  boating,  this  business  being  wholly  in  the 
hands  of  the  negroes.  And  a  remunerative  calling  it  proves  to 
be,  indeed.  It  would  be  safe  to  say  that  the  earnings  of  each 
boat  are,  on  an  average,  three  dollars  a  day.  It  requires  two  men 
to  manage  one  boat,  and  their  snug  little  income  is  more  than  a 
thousand  dollars  a  year,  or  upwards  of  five  hundred  apiece. 
This  would  be  reduced  one  half  in  case  they  sailed  the  boat  on 
shares,  as  some  of  them  do,  for  a  white  owner.  It  may  be  set 
down  that  the  freedmen  of  Beaufort,  North  Carolina,  earn  a 
thousand  dollars  a  week,  or  fifty  thousand  dollars  a  year,  in  this 
neat*  business.  A  pretty  sight  it  is  to  see  the  fleet  set  sail  from 
Morehead,  after  the  arrival  of  a  train.  In  sailing  around  the 
points,  over  the  shoals  and  through  the  "  sloos,"  it  is  much  like  a 
spirited  regatta,  repeated  every  day. 

Many  others  of  the  people  are  employed  in  oystering  and  fish- 
ing, for  which  the  locality  is  favorable.  The  mullet,  sea-trout, 
sheep's-head,  and  blue-fish  of  these  waters  are  delicious. 

Less  than  three  hundred  colored  persons  receive  assistance 
from  Government  in  Beaufort  and  vicinity,  a  fact  which  well 
illustrates  the  industry  of  the  remainder.  Some  people  are  loud 
in  their  complaints  that  the  Government  should  feed  so  many 
negroes.    What  have  they  to  say  to  its  feeding  twelve  or  fourteen 


20  ANNUAL  REPORT   OF   THE   SUPERINTENDENT 

hundred  icliite  refugees,  upon  tins  limited  area,  while  four  out 
of  five  of  the  black  refugees  have  found  self-supporting  employ- 
ment ? 

My  observation  in  this  State  has  led  me  to  the  conclusion 
that,  of  those  who  are  equally  poor  and  equally  destitute,  the 
white  person  will  be  the  one  to  sit  down  in  forlorn  and  languid 
helplessness,  and  eat  the  bread  of  charity,  while  the  negro  will 
be  tinkering  at  something,  in  his  rude  way,  to  hammer  out  a 
living. 

Carteret  County,  of  which  Beaufort  is  the  shiretown,  extends 
from  Bogue  Sound  on  the  south  to  the  Neuse  river  on  the  north. 
Several  small  streams  which  take  their  rise  in  this  county  flow 
northward  into  the  Neuse  ;  and  among  ihem  are  Adam's  Creek 
and  Clumfort's  Creek,  Along  the  course  and  near  the  mouth 
of  these  creeks,  are  settled  nearly  a  thousand  colored  people, 
who  have  been  free  for  years,  and  who  are  among  the  most 
active,  intelligent,  and  enterprizing  colored  people  I  have  seen 
in  the  South.  Some  of  them  own  large  tracts  of  land  and  are 
esteemed  wealthy.  They  deal  largely  in  turpentine.  They  are 
a  people  who  have  proved  the  value  of  freedom,  even  with  such 
poor  experience  of  it  as  they  have  known  under  a  slave  code, 
and  in  a  State  where  it  was  a  crime  to  teach  a  servant  to  read. 

Deeming  one  of  these  localities  a  good  position  for  a  school, 
efforts  were  made  in  that  direction,  and  with  good  success. 
Within  the  shelter  of  the  tall  turpentine  trees  at  Clumfort's 
Creek,  far  out  in  the  wilderness,  where  no  point  of  bayonet  could 
ffuard  it,  rose  the  Puritan  school-house.  The  American  Mission- 
ary  Association  had  posted  its  advanced  picket  here  in  the  person 
of  Rev.  George  W.  Greene,  who  had  no  sooner  established  this 
northern  institution  than  it  was  entered  and  occupied  by  a  cul- 
tured lady,  whom  the  New  England  Freedmen's  Aid  Society 
sent  out  from  Boston.  This  was  Mrs.' Carrie  E.  Croome.  The 
rebels  had  slain  her  noble  husband  while  in  command  of  his 
battery  at  South  Mountain,  and  she  would  avenge  his  untimely 
death  by  teaching  the  ignorant  negroes  how  to  throw  off  the 
yoke  which  those  dastardly  rebels  had  put  upon  their  necks. 
This  was  the  sublime  retaliation  of  the  gospel.  But  how  was  it 
met? 

The  sight  of  a  "  nigger  school-house "  was  more  than    the 


OF  NEGRO  AFFAIRS  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA.  21 

chivalry  could  bear.  It  had  not  been  occupied  many  weeks  in 
quietness,  before  three  ruffians,  calling  themselves  "  confederate 
soldiers,"  but  really  guerillas,  appeared  in  the  night  time,  set  the 
school-house  on  fire,  rudely  summoned  Mrs.  Croome  from  her 
house  adjoining  it,  and  bade  her  hasten  away  before  that  also 
should  be  given  to  the  flames.  They  threatened  her  with  vio- 
lence, and  tried  to  extort  the  promise  that  she  woiild  never 
again  teach  "  niggers "  to  read.  But  she  bore  herself  with 
dignity  and  calmness,  and  so  escaped  their  power.  The  loss  of 
clothing,  books,  school  furniture,  and  other  property  is  slight, 
compared  with  the  calamity  which  despoiled  these  people,  hun- 
gering and  thirsting  after  knowledge,  of  the  instruction  they 
prized  so  highly.  They  were  indignant,  angry,  and  sorrowful  by 
turns,  and  are  more  than  ever  determined  that  the  school-house 
shall  stand  amid  their  forest  homes,  and  that  their  children  shall 
drink  at  the  fountains  of  knowledge.  The  indefatigal)le  Mis- 
sionary Association  has  sent  out  the  same  agent,  well  furnished 
with  materials,  to  rebuild  at  Clumfort's  Creek  the  temple  of 
learning.  It  will  soon  rise  from  its  ashes.  And  not  a  few  of  the 
negroes  have  purchased  muskets,  ivith  ivhich  to  dispute  the  7'ight 
of  the  burglar  and  the  assassin,  ivhen  again  he  comes  that  way. 

Could  anything  be  more  significant  than  is  this  incident,  of 
the  spirit  which  animates  on  the  one  side  the  Union  legions,  and 
on  the  other  the  Confederate  troops  ?  The  one  diffuse  knowl- 
edge, the  other  enforce  ignorance ;  one  would  make  the  whole 
land  bright  with  liberty  and  love,  the  other  would  pollute  it 
with  deeds  of  darkness  and  violence,  and  stain  it  with  the  blood 
of  slaves. 

EOANOKE    ISLAND. 

Within  a  month  after  assuming  the  Superintendency  of  the 
Blacks  in  North  Carolina,  I  was  ordered  by  Major  General 
J.  G.  Foster,  then  commanding  the  Department,  to  establish  a 
colony  of  negroes  upon  Roanoke  Island.  The  good  or  ill  success 
of  this  experiment  ought  to  be  credited  as  well  to  the  mind 
which  originated  the  enterprize,  as  to  those  who  were  entrusted 
with  its  execution.  It  was  General  Foster's  purpose  to  settle 
colored  people  on  the  unoccupied  lands,  and  give  them  agricul- 
tural implements  and  mechanical  tools  to  begin  with,  and  to 


22  ANNUAL   EEPORT   OF   THE    SUPERINTE^'^iENT 

train  and  educate  them  for  a  free  and  independent  community, 
It  was  also  a  part  of  his  plan  to  arm  and  drill  them  for  self- 
defence. 

This  was  in   May,  1863.     The  bill  to  enlist  colored  soldiers 
did  not  pass  Congress  until  the  16th  of  July  following. 

Before  th :  close  of  that  year,  so  rapid  was  the  growth  of  pub- 
lic opinion,  General  Butler  declared  m  General  Order  No.  46, 
"  The  recruitment  of  colored  troops  has  become  the  settled  pur- 
pose of  the  Government."  The  hardy  young  negroes  of  Roanoke 
were  among  the  first  to  answer  the  country's  call.  Here  was 
fought  the  battle  which  initiated  the  successes  of  the  Burnside 
Expedition.  And  in  this  battle,  musket  in  hand,  pressing  hard 
toward  the  front,  were  to  be  seen  some  of  these  very  young  men. 
Having  lielped  to  drive  the  oppressor  from  their  own  island 
home,  they  were  equally  ready  to  strike  for  the  deliverance  of 
the  nation.  Gloriously  have  they  since  maintained  themselves 
at  Fort  Wagner  and  Olustee. 

Colored  soldiers  were  first  recruited  here  by  Brig.  Gen.  E.  A. 
Wild,  on  the  19th  day  of  June,  1863.  They  freely  and  enthu- 
siastically volunteered,  to  the  number  of  nearly  one  hundred. 
The  writer  recollects  spending  one  whole  night  with  General 
Wild,  in  adjusting,  on  Quartermaster's  papers,  the  accounts  of 
these  soldiers  against  the  Government  for  previous  labor,  which 
accounts  have  not  been  settled  to  the  present  day. 

This  was  the  first  company  of  colored  troops  raised  in  North 
Carolina,  and  so  far  as  I  know,  the  first  in  the  country.  Since 
that  time  a  recruiting  officer  has  resided  at  the  island,  and  a 
large  number  from  this  locality  have  joined  the  army. 

This  removal  of  the  vigorous  young  men,  who  would  have 
worked  upon  the  soil,  and  fished  in  the  Sounds  for  the  support 
of  the  colony,  necessarily  changed  the  character  of  the  enter- 
prize,  converting  it  into  an  asylum  for  tlie  wived  and  children 
of  soldiers,  and  also  for  the  aged  and  infirm,  where  the  children 
might  be  educated,  and  all,  both  young  and  old,  be  trained  for 
freedom  and  its  responsibilities,  after  the  war. 

For  such  an  asylum  our  forces  held  no  other  suitable  or  safe 
place  in  the  State,  Not  a  square  mile  of  territory  (excepting 
Hatteras  Banks,)  lying  outside  of  the  interior  fortifications  of 
New  Berne,  Beaufort,  and  Morehead,  but  has  been  repeatedly 


OP  NEGRO  AFFAIRS  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA.  23 

over-run  by  rebels  and  guerillas  during  the  past  year.  Even 
Roanoke  Island  was  seriously  threatened  for  a  few  days,  when 
the  Ram  Albermarle  seemed  about  to  take  possession  of  the 
Sounds. 

I  went  North  in  June,  1863,  under  orders  from  Gen.  Foster, 
to  procure  materials  and  implements  with  which  to  furnish  the 
projected  colony  with  an  outfit,  and  in  a  few  weeks  raised  in  New 
England  and  New  York  between  eight  and  nine  thousand  dol- 
lars. It  was  most  cheerfully  given,  and  the  donations  were 
accompanied  with  many  expressions  of  good-will  towards  the 
work,  and  of  hearty  interest  in  the  colored  people.  Especially 
did  the  Freedmen's  Associations  at  Boston  and  New  York  ren- 
der efficient  aid. 

While  this  work  of  soliciting  funds  was  in  progress  at  the  North, 
Gen.  E.  A.  Wild  received  orders  from  Gen.  Foster,  to  take  pos- 
session of,  and  assign  to  the  negroes,  the  unoccupied  and  unim- 
proved lands  of  the  island,  layiiig  them  out  in  suitable  lots  for 
families.  He  sent  thither  Serj't  George  0.  Sanderson  (late  of  the 
43d  Mass.  Reg't)  as  Assistant  Superintendent,  who  made  the  pre- 
liminary surveys,  and  opened  the  first  broad  avenue  of  the  new 
African  town.  Mr.  Sanderson  remained  at  this  post  until  Oc- 
tober, 1864,  when  he  received  a  Lieutenant's  commission  in  a  reg- 
iment of  colored  troops,  and  went  to  the  front. 

I  returned  from  the  North  in  July,  1863,  accompanied  by 
female  teachers,  and  furnished  with  large  supplies,  to  find  that 
Gen.  Wild  had  been  ordered,  with  his  negro  troops,  to  Charles- 
ton, S.  C.  He  left  New  Berne  on  the  30th  of  July,  with  his 
brigade  of  2,154  men  —  and  among  them,  the  flower  of  Roanoke 
Island  —  bearing  the  beautiful  banner  of  the  Republic  which  had 
been  presented  by  the  colored  ladies  of  New  Berne  to  the  First 
North  Carolina  Regiment,  Col.  James  C.  Beccher. 

Gen.  Wild  being  no  longer  able  to  act  in  North  Corolina,  Maj. 
Gen.  J.  J.  Peck,  at  the  suggestion  of  Gen.  Foster,  issued  the  fol- 
lowing order,  devolving  upon  me  the  duty  of  superintending 
the  organization  of  Roanoke  Island,  and  conferring  more  ample 
powers. 


24  ANNUAL   EEPORT   OF   THE   SUPERINTENDENT 

(  Headquartebs  Aemy  and  District  of  North  Carolina, 
Genera'  Orders  )  \  New  Berne,  N.  C,  Sepl.  10,  1SG3. 

No.  la.  I 

In  accordance  with  the  views  of  the  Major  General  command- 
ing the  Department  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  Chaplain 
Horace  James,  Superintendent  of  Blacks  for  the  District  of 
North  Carolina,  will  assume  charge  of  the  colonization  of  Roan- 
oke Island  with  negroes. 

The  powers  conferred  upon  Brig.  Gen.  Wild,  by  General  Or- 
ders No.  103,  Headquarters  Department  of  North  Carolina, 
18th  Army  Corps,  are  hereby  transferred  to  Chaplain  James. 
He  will  take  possession  of  all  unoccupied  lands  upon  the  island, 
and  lay  them  out,  and  assign  them,  according  to  his  own  discre- 
tion, to  tlie  families  of  colored  soldiers,  to  invalids,  and  other 
Blacks  in  the  employ  of  the  Government,  giving  them  full 
possession  of  the  same,  until  annulled  by  the  Government  or 
by  due  process  of  United  States  law.  The  authority  of  Chai> 
lain  James  will  be  respected  in  all  matters  relating  to  the  well- 
fare  of  the  colony. 

By  command  of  Major  General  Peck, 

Benj.  B.  Foster,  Assist.  Adj't  General. 

The  work  was  now  prosecuted  with  vigor,  though  with  little 
outside  aid  for  some  time.  With  compass,  chart,  and  chain,  and 
a  gang  of  choppers,  the  old  groves  of  pine,  gum,  holly,  and  cy- 
press, were  penetrated,  crossed  and  re-crossed,  and  the  upper, 
or  northern,  end  of  the  island  was  laid  out  in  acre  lots,  and  at 
once  assigned  to  families.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  enthusi- 
asm of  these  simple  people,  when  they  found  themselves  in  pos- 
session of  a  spot  they  could  call  their  own. 

To  be  absolute  owners  of  the  soil,  to  be  allowed  to  build  upon 
their  own  lands  cabins,  however  humble,  in  which  the}^  should 
enjoy  the  sacred  priveleges  of  a  home,  was  more  than  they  had 
ever  dared  to  pray  for.  It  was  affecting  to  hear  the  old  men 
and  women  declare  how  fervently  they  blessed  the  Lord,  that 
their  eyes  were  permitted  to  see  this  unexpected  sight.  The 
woods  now  began  to  ring  with  blows  from  the  woodman's  axe, 
and  to  gleam  at  night  with  the  fires  which  consumed  the  refuse 
vegetation,  swept  oif  in  clearing  the  forests. 

It  was  never  intended  to  give  these  people  farms  at  Roanoke, 


^  OF   NEGRO   AFFAIRS   IN   NORTH   CAROLINA.  25 

but  only  a  homestead,  and  a  garden  spot  for  each  family.  There 
were  sufficient  reasons  for  tliis,  in  that  the  island  is  not  large 
enough  to  divide  into  farms  for  any  considerable  number  of  peo- 
ple. The  land  is  not  rich  enough  for  profitable  farming,  though 
it  will  produce  vegetables,  grapes,  and  other  fruit,  in  abundance 
and  variety.  And  again,  invalids,  aged  people,  and  soldiers'  wives 
and  children,  could  not  be  expected  to  improve  more  than  a  sin- 
gle acre.  This  was  the  plan  of  the  settlement.  Broad,  straight 
avenues  were  laid  out,  1,200  feet  apart,  up  and  down  the  island, 
nearly  parallel  with  its  shores  and  parallel  with  one  another, 
which  were  named  "  Roanoke  Avenue,"  "  Lincoln  Avenue," 
"  Burnside  Avenue,"  &c.  At  right  angles  with  these  were  streets, 
somewhat  narrower  than  the  avenues,  and  400  feet  apart,  num- 
bered "First  Street,"  "Second  Street,"  &c.,  &c.,  in  one  direc- 
tion from  a  certain  point,  and  "A  Street,"  "B  Street,"  &c.,  in  the 
other  direction. 

This  arrangement  divided  the  land  into  parallelograms,  or 
sections,  containing  each  twelve  one  acre  lots,  square  in  form, 
every  one  having  a  street  frontage.  Along  these  the  houses  were 
disposed,  being  placed  in  line,  and  all  at  the  same  distance  from 
the  street.  The  lots  were  neatly  enclosed,  and  speedily  im- 
proved by  the  freedmen,  soon  making  "  the  wilderness  and 
the  solitary  place  glad  "  at  their  coming.  Wives  and  children 
with  alacrity  united  with  the  men  in  performing  the  work  of 
the  carpenter,  the  mason,  and  the  gardener.  So  zealous  were 
they  in  this  work,  as  to  spend,  in  many  cases,  much  of  the  night 
in  prosecuting  it,  giving  no  sleep  to  their  eyes  until  they  could 
close  them  sweetly,  under  their  own  dear  roof-tree. 

A  good  supply  of  lumber  being  indispensable  when  one  would 
build  a  town,  I  purchased  at  the  North  a  valuable  steam-engine 
and  saw-mill,  thus  using  the  larger  portion  of  the  funds  which 
had  been  secured  in  aid  of  the  freedmen.  But  as  the  mill 
could  not  be  made  immediately  available,  logs  and  boards  split 
by  hand  were  used  at  first,  and  chimneys  of  the  Southern  style 
were  constructed  of  sticks  and  clay.  A  few  sawed  boards  for 
floor,  door,  and  window,  were  sometimes  obtained  in  a  boat  ex- 
pedition across  the  Sound,  to  Nagg's  Head,  Oregon  Inlet,  or 
Croatan,  and  thus  their  mansions  were  completed.  A  proud 
day  was   it   for   Mingo,  or   Luck,  or   Cudjoe,  when   he   could 


26  ANNUAL   REPORT   OF   THE   SUPERINTENDENT 

survey  his  home  as  a  thing  accompUshed,  and  sit  at  night  l)y 
its  blazing  firelight,  and  see  the  dark  shadows  of  his  wife  and 
children  dance  upon  the  cabin  w^all.  i\jid  this,  too,  in  a  Slave 
State !  his  old  master  living,  perhaps,  at  the  south  end  of  the  is- 
land !     Listen  to  his  song  : 

"  De  yar  ob  Juberlo  am  come  !  " 

Major  Gen.  B.  F.  Butler,  on  succeeding  to  the  command  of 
the  Department,  issued  that  important  order  No  46,  organizing 
the  Department  of  Negro  Afi'airs,  confirming  the  doings  of  his 
predecessor,  and  providing,  with  a  wonderful  prescience,  for  all 
the  exigencies  likely  to  occur  in  the  enrolment,  employment, 
support  and  care  of  the  colored  people.  Under  tliis  regime,  the 
work  at  Roanoke  prospered  more  and  more. 

At  one  time,  during  the  winter  of  1863-4,  there  was  a  degree 
of  suffering  on  the  island  from  insufficient  shelter.  This  was 
when  a  thousand  or  fifteen  hundred  persons  at  one  time  were 
sent  there  by  Gen.  Wild,  now  returned  from  the  South,  the 
result  of  a  raid  through  the  northern  counties  of  the  State.  But 
the  new  comers  were  soon  domiciliated,  as  comfortably  as  their 
predecessors  had  been  before. 

The  number  of  colored  people  now  on  the  island,  as  ascer- 
tained by  the  recent  census,  is  three  thousand  and  ninety-one 
(3,091).  Of  these,  1,295  are  males,  and  1,796  females  ;  1,297  are 
children  under  fourteen  years  of  age,  of  whom  710  are  girls,  and 
687  boys  ;  1,794  are  fourteen  years  of  age  or  upwards,  of  whom 
708  are  males,  and  1,086  females :  of  these  708  males,  only  217 
are  between  the  years  of  18  and  45,  the  proper  military  age,  and 
the  larger  portion  of  these,  even,  are  exempts  on  account  of  phy- 
sical disability,  showing  that  491,  or  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  adult 
males,  are  either  in  the  immature  period  of  youth,  or  in  the  de- 
cline of  life. 

These  statistics  indicate,  with  sufficient  clearness,  what  maybe 
expected  of  these  people,  and  what  is,  at  present,  their  indus- 
trial force. 

If  remunerative  employment  could  be  given  to  the  women 
and  older  children,  it  would  be  a  blessing  to  them.  Household 
cares  do  not  sit  heavily  upon  people  who  live  in  almost  primi- 
tive simplicity. 


OF  NEGRO  AFFAIRS  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA.  27 

Some  kind  of  domestic  manufacturing,  supplied  to  them  as  a 
regular  business,  would  not  only  train  them  to  habits  of  industry, 
but  raise  them  above  the  level  of  mere  field  hands.  To  substi- 
tute an  occupation  which  requires  skill,  and  taxes  ingenuity,  for 
one  which  is  coarse  and  plodding,  is  to  confer  a  lasting  benefit. 
In  this  view  spinning  and  wea\dng  have  been  encouraged.  Some 
of  the  better  mechanics  on  the  island  have  manufactured  spin- 
ning wheels  for  sale,  doing  it  without  the  use  of  a  lathe,  and  mak- 
ing a  very  good  article.  Many  of  the  women  can  card,  spin,  and 
weave.  They  might  succeed  in  willow  work,  if  the  material 
could  be  easily  procured.  I  have  had  a  quantity  of  osier  wil- 
low slips  planted  on  Roanoke,  hoping  to  introduce,  by  and  by, 
this  species  of  industrial  labor.  The  Friends  in  Philadelphia, 
among  their  many  benefactions  to  the  negroes  in  this  District, 
have  sent  out  some  complete  sets  of  shoemakers'  tools,  the  use 
of  which  is  understood  by  several  of  the  freedmen  on  the  is- 
land. The  same  is  true  of  coopers'  tools,  and  to  a  much  larger 
extent ;  for  the  turpentine  business,  the  leadnig  pecuniary  in- 
terest of  North  Carolina,  has  made  them  familiar  with  the 
making  and  mending  of  barrels.  It  is  common  to  find  col- 
ored men  acquainted  with  splitting  and  shaving  shingles,  and 
not  a  few  are  constantly  engaged  in  this  business,  selling  them 
at  from  13.00  to  17.00  per  thousand. 

The  negro  always  builds  his  own  house.  Set  him  down  where 
trees  grow,  give  him  an  axe,  a  saw,  a  hammer,  and  twenty 
pounds  of  nails,  and  in  a  month  his  house  is  done.  Let  some 
disturbance  of  the  times  drive  him  from  his  cabin,  and  when 
he  has  found  an  eligible  spot,  he  will  erect  another,  and 
another.  An  old  Roanoke  negro  told  me  he  had  built  eight 
houses  for  himself  on  his  master's  plantation.  His  heartless 
lord  would  give  him  a  building  spot,  and  suffer  him  to  live 
there  until  he  had  cleared  the  land  around  his  dwelling,  and 
then  would  drive  him  out,  to  repeat  the  process  in  a  new  location. 

Like  all  people  who  live  near  navigable  waters,  the  negroes  at 
Roanoke  are  fond  of  boats,  and  know  how  to  manage  them. 
Some  few  of  them  are  respectable  boat  builders.  About  one 
hundred  of  the  most  active  men  on  the  island  are  employed  in 
Government  work,  by  the  Quartermaster  and  Commissary  of 
the  Post.     Some  two  hundred  more  have  been  kept  at  work  a 


28  ANNUAL  EEPOET   OF  THE   SUPERINTENDENT 

large  portion  of  the  year  upon  the  fortifications  of  the  island. 
More  than  one  hundred  were  sent,  in  September  last,  to  Bermuda 
Hundred,  to  labor  upon  "  Dutch  Gap  Canal "  and  elsewhere. 

These  occupations,  with  the  toil  expended  upon  their  own  premi- 
ses, have  kept  the  men  generally  employed,  and  given  to  the  colony 
an  aspect  of  industry.  The  few,  in  every  community,  who  are 
incorrigibly  lazy,  and  who  deliberately  intend  to  eat  their  bread 
in  the  sweat  of  another's  face,  undoubtedly  have  their  represen- 
tatives here.  Considering  the  antecedents  of  these  people,  who 
can  wonder  at  it  ? 

Roanoke  Island  is  favorably  located  for  carrying  on  fisheries, 
especially  of  herring,  mullet,  blue-fish,  and  shad.  These  have 
heretofore  furnished  one  of  the  principal  means  of  subsistence 
to  the  inhabitants.  Pre^^arations  were  made  to  pursue  this 
business  for  the  advantage  of  the  colony  ;  but  the  shad  season 
in  1864  was  much  less  productive  than  usual,  the  nets  being 
broken  and  destroyed  by  ice  and  storms  in  the  early  spring. 

Mr.  Holland  Streeter  was  entrusted  with  the  charge  of  this 
business,  and  has  pursued  it,  with  a  small  gang  of  fishermen, 
through  the  year.  Up  to  Jan.  1st,  1865,  the  income  of  the  fish- 
eries, as  reported  by  Mr.  Streeter,  was  $1,404.27.  It  is  expected 
to  be  much  larger  during  the  approaching  season,  if  the  elements 
prove  propitious. 

The  mill  before  alluded  to  was  substantially  erected,  near 
the  military  Headquarters  of  the  island,  during  the  spring  and 
early  summer,  and  has  now  been  for  several  months  in  success- 
ful operation.  Tiie  engine  is  of  seventy  horse-power,  carrying 
several  circular  saws,  a  turning  lathe,  and  a  grist  mill.  Its 
capacity  to  produce  different  styles  of  lumber,  and  to  convert 
grain  into  the  form  so  widely  used  by  the  negroes,  and  indeed 
by  all  the  Southern  people  for  food,  makes  it  a  positive  addition 
to  the  wealth  and  resources  of  the  island,  and  as  valual)le  to  the 
whites  as  to  the  blacks.  The  officers  of  the  Government,  the 
troops,  the  attaches  of  the  army,  the  white  natives,  and  the  ne- 
groes, are  sharing  alike  in  the  benefits  of  this  Northern  institution. 
Thus  do  enterprise,  thrift,  and  productiveness  enter  the  gates 
which  have  been  opened  by  the  demon  of  war.  On  the  7th  day 
of  February,  1862,  the  very  spot  where  now  stands  this  peaceful 
engineery  of  labor  was  enveloped  in  the  smoke  of  contending 


OF   NEGRO    AFFAIRS   IN   NORTH    CAROLINA.  29 

fleets  and  armies,  and  shot  and  shell  plowed  madly  through  the 
soil. 

Efforts  to  educate  the  sable  colonists  were  nearly  commensu- 
rate in  time  with  the  material  improvments  made. 

A  pioneer  teacher  from  the  North  landed  on  the  Island,  Oct. 
19tli,  1863,  and  for  more  than  three  months  labored  alone  and 
unattended,  living  in  one  log  cabin,  and  teaching  in  another, 
with  most  commendable  zeal  and  self-denial. 

This  was  Miss  Elizabeth  James,  a  lady  sent  out  by  the  Amer- 
ican Missionary  Association.  On  the  25th  of  January,  1864,  Miss 
Ella  Roper  arrived,  who  was  followed,  on  the  20th  of  February, 
by  Mr.  S.  S.  Nickerson,  and  a  little  later,  by  Miss  Mary  Burnap, 
transferred  from  a  school  in  New  Berne. 

After  the  fall  of  Plymouth,  and  the  flight  of  our  teachers  from 
that  locality,  Mrs.  Sarah  P.  Freeman,  and  her  daughter,  Miss 
Kate  Freeman,  took  up  their  abode  upon  the  island.  Mrs.  Free- 
man and  Miss  James  remained  through  the  summer  vacation, 
and  did  great  good  in  ministering,  as  judicious  matrons,  to  the 
various  wants  of  the  islanders.  Since  the  schools  were  re- 
opened, the  corps  of  teachers  has  been  enlarged  by  the  addition 
of  Miss  Esther  Williams  and  Mrs.  Nickerson  to  the  number. 
The  wants  of  the  island  are  not  yet  fully  supplied.  Besides  the 
1,297  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age,  many  of  the  adults 
are  eager  to  be  taught  to  read  and  write,  and  will  not  be  denied. 
Add  to  this  the  distribution  of  donated  clothing,  visitation  of  the 
sick,  writing  letters  for  the  women  to  their  husbands  or  sons  in 
the  army,  and  their  own  domestic  cares,  and  one  may  readily 
decide  whether  from  ten  to  twenty  dollars  per  month,  would 
tempt  teachers  to  do  this  work,  in  banishment  and  obloquy,  if  their 
minds  were  not  glowing  with  enthusiasm,  and  their  hearts  pene- 
trated with  benevolent  love.  The  colony  would  have  been  more 
promptly  supplied  with  schools  but  for  the  want  of  suitable 
school  rooms  and  quarters  for  teachers.  The  only  abandoned 
house  on  the  island  was  fitted  up  for  a  teacher's  home,  and  will 
accomodate  five  or  six.  Its  former  occupant  is  in  the  rebel 
army.  Since  the  mill  began  to  produce  lumber,  school-houses 
and  teachers'  quarters  have  been,  or  are  being,  erected,  suflQcient 
for  all  our  purposes. 

An    Industrial    School  and  an   Orphan  Asylum   have  been 


80  ANNUAL  REPORT   OF  THE   SUPERINTENDENT 

projected,  and  will  be  built,  it  is  hoped,  during  the  present 
winter. 

An  attempt  was  made,  early  in  the  year,  to  give  the  colonists 
an  idea  of  governing  themselves.  A  "  council  "  of  fifteen  lead- 
ing individuals  was  appointed,  and  instructed  to  meet  and  con- 
sult for  the  common  welfare,  and  be  a  mediiim  through  which  the 
rules  and  orders  of  the  Superintendent  of  Negro  Affairs  and  of  the 
military  authorities  might  be  communicated  and  enforced.  This 
was  intended  to  be  the  germ  of  a  civil  government.  But  the 
plan  proved  unsuccessful  in  the  main.  The  "  councillors  "  were 
too  ignorant  to  keep  records,  or  make  and  receive  written  com- 
munications, were  jealous  of  one  another,  and  too  little  raised  in 
culture  above  the  common  people  to  command  their  respect,  at 
least  while  the  island  is  under  military  rule.  To  fit  these 
people  for  republican  self-government,  education  is  the  prime 
necessity.  The  sword  to  set  them  free,  letters  to  make  them 
citizens. 

The  whites,  who  lived  to  the  number  of  about  four  hundred 
on  Roanoke  Island  previous  to  this  rebellion,  did  not,  for  the 
most  part,  abandon  their  homes.  They  hastened,  after  the  cap- 
ture of  the  island,  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  which  some  of 
them  have  faithfully  kept  in  its  spirit,  others  only  in  "  the  letter 
which  killeth."  The  truly  loyal  among  them  have  appreciated 
the  necessity  which  compelled  the  Government  to  take  possession 
of  their  uncultivated  lands  for  a  negro  settlement,  and  have  ac- 
cepted the  fact  with  patriotic  submission.  But  the  other  class, 
whose  loyalty  is  so  ill-disguised  as  to  reveal  the  "  copper,"  are 
loud  in  their  complaints  of  the  "nigger"  and  the  "  abolition- 
ers."  They  would  be  glad  to  drive  the  colored  people  and  their 
friends  from  the  island.  And  this  too,  when,  by  their  own  con- 
fession, their  estates  are  worth  more  by  four  or  five  hundred 
per  cent,  than  they  were  before  the  war,  and  their  island  home 
has  been  lifted  from  an  ignoble  obscurity  into  honorable  promi- 
nence and  commercial  importance.  The  average  value  of  the 
wood  and  waste  lands,  on  which  the  colony  has  been  settled,  was 
only  two  dollars  ((|2.00)  an  acre  before  the  war.  The  '^  nigger" 
will  yet  be  the  making  of  these  poor  people. 

The  question  is  sometimes  asked,  whether  the  Freedmen's  col- 
ony on  Roanoke  Island  has  proved  a  success  ?     The  answer  may 


OF  NEGRO  AFFAIRS  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA.  31 

be  gleaned  in  part  from  the  statements  already  made.  If  by 
success  is  meant  complete  self-support^  the  question  must  be 
answered  in  the  negative.  Its  insiflar  and  isolated  position,  far 
removed  from  any  centre  of  population,  the  necessity  of  clearing 
the  lots  assigned,  which  were  all  wild  land,  the  smallness  of  the 
garrison,  furnishing  but  little  employment  to  the  people  as  laun- 
dresses, cooks,  and  servants,  the  partial  failure  of  the  shad  fish- 
eries, and  above  all,  the  transfer  into  the  army  of  most  of  the 
laboring  men,  have  made  it  necessary  to  feed  the  larger  portion 
of  the  colonists  at  the  expense  of  the  Government. 

But  this  is  done  in  obedience  to  military  orders  in  the  case  of 
all  wives  and  children  of  negro  troops,  and  is  to  be  considered  a 
part  of  their  compensation. 

In  every  other  aspect  except  that  of  "  rations,"  the  colony  has 
met  and  exceeded  expectation. 

It  has  proved  a  safe  and  undisturbed  retreat  for  the  families 
of  soldiers,  who  were  nobly  defending  our  flag  at  Petersburg, 
Charleston,  and  Wilmington. 

It  has  instructed  many  hundreds  of  children  and  adults  to 
read  and  spell,  and  to  value  knowledge  as  the  means  of  elevating 
them  and  their  race,  and  assuring  to  them  the  bkssings  of  free- 
dom forever. 

It  has  made  three  or  four  thousand  human  beings  useless  as 
"  chattels,"  by  breathing  into  them  new  hopes  and  aspirations, 
and  fitting  them  to  go  forth  from  this  Patmos,  where  they  have 
been  inspired  with  the  spirit  of  liberty,  and  teach  the  same  divine 
apocalypse  to  their  brethren,  now  in  "  Confederate  "  bonds. 

It  has  helped  to  develope  the  resources  of  a  somewhat  remark- 
able island.  Here  landed,  in  1685  and  1587,  two  colonies  of 
Englishmen,  sent  out  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  which  became  ut- 
terly extinct  in  the  short  period  of  two  years,  leaving  only  some 
rude  fortifications  now  overgrown  with  trees,  by  which  to  rec- 
ognize this  first  attempt  to  settle  America  from  our  fatherland. 
The  Freedmon's  colony  has  done  better  than  Sir  Walter's. 
Within  a  period  of  about  twelve  months,  the  settlers  have  built 
five  hundred  and  ninety-one  (591)  houses,  which,  with  the  im- 
provements made  upon  their  lots,  are  estimated  to  be  worth 
$75.00  a  piece.  One  of  them  was  recently  sold  for  1150.00. 
Adopting  the  lower  figure,  here  is  a  money  value  of  forty-four 


32  ANNUAL    REPORT    OF   THE   SUPERINTENDENT 

thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  ($44,325.00),  a 
sum  large  enough  to  liave  purchased  the  whole  island  three  years 
ago,  with  all  the  improvements  of  two  hundred  years,  under  the 
rule  and  culture  of  its  white  inhabitants. 

It  has  multiplied  the  value  of  real  estate  thirty-seven  times  in 
a  single  year,  at  least  in  the  estimation  of  the  negroes  who  oc- 
cupy it,  and  has  led  the  native  whites  to  ask  almost  fabulous 
prices  for  the  lands  which  they  still  retain. 

It  has  furnished  important  manufacturing  facilities  to  the 
island  and  its  vicinity,  by  introducing  valuable  steam-power, 
and  opening  stores  for  trade,  which  will  survive  the  war,  and  be- 
come elements  of  prosperity  and  sources  of  wealth. 

The  colored  population  of  the  island  would  have  been  much 
less  dependent  upon  the  Government,  if  the  Government  had 
more  fully  met  its  engagements  with  them.  Immediately  upon 
the  occupancy  of  Roanoke  Island  by  the  Union  troops,  the  ne- 
groes began  to  be  employed  by  the  Quartermasters,  the  Surgeons, 
the  Engineers,  and  other  Government  officers,  upon  verbal  prom- 
ises to  pay,  at  rates  varying  from  |8.00  to  825.00  per  month. 
In  the  frequent  changes  of  command  which  came  over  the  is- 
land, their  accounts  were  transferred  from  officer  to  officer,  and 
usually  in  a  very  imperfect  form.  Oftentimes  they  were  never 
rendered  at  all,  but  the  laborer  was  deliberately  swindled  out  of 
his  earnings  by  some  officer  leaving  the  service,  who  thought  this 
a  brave  transaction,  and  "  good  enough  for  the  nigger  "  and  his 
friends.  At  the  commencement  of  Gen.  Butler's  administration 
in  North  Carolina,  these  people  were  led  to  believe  that  their 
just  dues  would  be  paid  them.  The  several  Superintendents 
of  Negro  Affairs,  were  made  special  commissioners  to  audit 
carefully  these  accounts,  and  present  them  at  Headquarters  for 
payment.  Accordingly  a  roll  of  labor  was  made  up  for  Roanoke 
Island,  with  care  and  painstaking,  making  use  of  all  the  scat- 
tered materials  at  command,  and  comparing  them,  when  possi- 
ble, with  the  testimony  of  the  parties.  This  Report  Roll  em- 
braced unsettled  accounts  smounting  to  eighteen  thousand  five 
hundred  and  seventy  dollars  and  seven  cents.  This  sum  of  mon- 
ey in  circulation  on  Roanoke  Island  would  make  greenbacks 
tolerably  plenty  over  its  limited  area  of  twelve  miles  by  three 
or  four.     The  most  unsatisfactory  manner  in  which  these  ac- 


OF   NEGRO    AFFAIRS  IN  NORTH   CAROLINA.  33 

counts  were  kept  by  the  officers  under  whom  the  work  was 
done,  which  was  practically  encouraged  by  the  vacillating  policy 
of  the  government  toward  the  negroes  at  that  time,  is  probably 
the  reason  for  their  non-payment.  Fearing  that  it  n^ver  will  be 
paid,  I  have  exhorted  the  freedmen  to  consider  this  loss  as  one 
of  their  sacrifices  for  freedom ;  as  something  that  they  should 
willingly  bear  for  the  country's  good  ;  and  which  is  in  part  made 
up  to  them  by  the  fostering  care  of  the  government  over  their 
families,  and  more  than  compensated  by  their  assured  freedom 
in  all  time  to  come. 

Roanoke  Island  is  the  key  of  six  charming  estuaries,  whose 
ready  navigation  by  small  vessels  and  light  draft  steamboats, 
must  needs  make  them  hereafter  the  seat  of  a  profitable  com- 
merce, in  cotton,  corn,  turpentine,  rosin,  tar,  timber,  fish,  oys- 
ters, wood,  reeds,  cranberries,  and  grapes.  The  Roanoke  fisher- 
ies alone  would  yield  fortunes  every  year  if  pursued  in  a  busi- 
ness-like manner.  The  scuppernong  grape,  which  is  a  native 
of  North  Carolina,  if  planted  in  vineyards  and  cultivated  scien- 
tifically, might  be  made  to  produce,  on  Roanoke  alone,  an  in- 
come of  1100,000  annually.  It  grows  here  spontaneously,  and 
without  enrichment  of  the  soil,  and  yields,  perhaps,  the  most 
delicious  white  wine  that  ever  tempted  the  palate.  I  have  cor- 
responded with  parties  at  the  North,  who  are  ready  to  commence 
its  culture  here  as  soon  as  the  way  is  open. 

Some  persons  have  predicted  that  the  government  would  fail 
to  confirm  to  the  Freedmen  the  rights  and  privileges  they  en- 
joy in  these  homesteads  on  Roanoke  Island.  I  cannot  believe  it. 
These  people  are  wards  of  the  government.  It  is  an  element 
of  our  glory  as  a  nation,  that  we  can  crush  out  a  slave-holding 
rebellion  with  one  hand,  and  sustain  a  liberated  people  with  the 
other.  The  person,  be  he  white  or  black,  who  has  taken  an 
acre  of  piney  woods,  worth  two  dollars  in  the  market,  and  in- 
creased its  value  thirty  or  forty  fold  by  his  own  labor  in  a  single 
year,  certainly  deserves  well  of  his  country,  and  should  be  per- 
mitted to  enjoy,  while  he  lives,  the  fruits  of  his  industry.  When 
a  "  Bureau  of  Freedmen's  Affairs  "  is  created  by  Congress,  it 
may  well  look  to  this  matter. 

Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  El  Dorado,  where  gay  cavaliers  hoped 
to  discover  mines  of  gold,  but  only  found  starvation   and  an 

3 


84  ANNUAL  REPORT  OF  THE   SUPERINTENDENT 

early  grave,  may  yet  fulfil,  under  the  magic  touch  of  freedom, 
the  expectations  of  its  early  settlers.  Its  evergreen  woods,  its 
picturesque  dales,  its  wave-kissed  shores  may  yet,  under  the 
skilful  appliances  of  labor,  and  the  stimulus  of  republican  insti- 
tutions, be  the  abode  of  a  prosperous  and  virtuous  people,  of  va- 
rying blood,  but  of  one  destiny,  differing,  it  may  be,  in  social 
position,  but  equal  before  the  law,  a  happy  commonwealth,  in 
which  Ephraim  shall  not  envy  Judah,  and  Judah  shall  no  longer 
vex  Ephraim. 

PLYMOUTH. 

This  pretty  little  southern  town  has  been  the  scene  of  stirring 
operations  during  the  year,  and  war's  devastations  have  left  it 
scarcely  more  than  a  mass  of  ruins.  Bandied  to  and  fro,  like  a 
shuttle-cock,  between  the  belligerants,  having  changed  masters 
five  times  in  two  years,  our  army  has  builded,  theirs  has  burned. 
And  since  destruction  in  point  of  time  has  so  much  the  advan- 
tage of  construction,  its  occupancy  by  the  rebels,  though  brief, 
has  left  it  in  heaps. 

Its  colored  population  in  January,  1864,  was  860  ;  in  January, 
1865,  it  was  94.  At  the  beginning  of  the  year  the  garrison  and 
white  population  might  have  numbered  2,500.  Plymouth  was 
the  headquarters  of  the  "  sub-district  of  the  Albemarle,"  that 
brave  and  accomplished  old  soldier.  Gen.  H.  W.  Wessells,  being 
in  command.  It  was  attacked  in  April  last  by  a  strong  column. 
under  the  rebel  Gen.  Hoke,  and  for  two  days  was  bravely  and 
successfully  defended,  with  great  slaughter  of  the  assaulting 
forces.  On  the  morning  of  the  third  day  a  new  element  was  in- 
troduced into  the  contest  by  the  coming  of  the  "  ram  Albemarle  " 
down  the  Roanoke  river.  A  fort  erected  above  the  town,  and 
armed  with  a  200  pounder  Parrott  gun,  allowed  the  ram  to  pass 
without  a  shot,  in  the  gray  of  the  morning,  and  anon  the  formid- 
able creature  was  in  front  of  the  town,  and  in  the  death-grapple 
with  our  naval  fleet.  Lieut.  Commander  Flusser,  who  had  been 
expecting  for  a  year  the  advent  of  this  enemy,  first  discovered 
her  close  aboard  of  him,  no  signal  having  been  given  by  the 
fort  above.  The  bow  gun  of  the  "  Miami,"  his  flag  ship,  was 
charged  with  a  shell.  "  Fire  this,  boys,"  said  he,  "  and  then  we 
will  give  them  solid  shot."     The  gunner  pulled  the  lanyard,  the 


OF  NEGRO   AFFAIRS   IN   NORTH   CAROLINA.  35 

shell  struck  the  iron  plating  of  the  Ram,  broke  in  pieces  and 
rebounded,  one  piece  of  it  striking  and  instantly  killing  the 
brave  commander.  This  shot  decided  tlie  fate  of  Pl^^mouth. 
Tiie  Southfield  (gunboat)  was  immediately  sunk  by  the  Ram, 
and  the  whole  fleet  driven  from  the  river,  leaving  the  town  open 
to  a  raking  fire  on  its  undefended  side.  Unfortunately,  Captain 
Flusser  left  no  peer. 

It  was  a  hard  day  for  the  poor  negroes.  The  garrison,  of  Penn- 
sylvania, New  York,  Connecticut,  and  Massachusetts  troops, 
were  taken  prisoners.  The  few  colored  men  found  in  uniform 
were  treated  with  shocking  barbarity,  as  were  the  colored  em- 
ployes of  the  government.  Some  few,  who  escaped  by  swim- 
ming and  taking  to  the  swamps,  found  their  way  at  length  to  our 
gunboats,  or  to  the  Union  lines.  The  remainder  were  remanded 
back  to  slavery  in  the  interior.  But  many  of  the  women  and 
children  were  sent,  by  the  thoughtful  care  of  Gen.  Wessells,  to 
Roanoke  Island,  the  evening  before  the  fall  of  the  town.  At  the 
same  time  were  removed  our  three  northern  teachers,  Mrs. 
Freeman  and  daughter,  and  Mrs.  Croome,  with  the  wives  of  sev- 
eral officers.  The  transport  which  bore  them  to  a  place  of  safe- 
ty left  Plymouth  not  six  hours  before  the  "  Albemarle  "  ob- 
tained possession  of  the  river. 

The  schools  at  Plymouth  were  of  especial  interest,  and  full  of 
promise.  The  earliest  instruction  to  the  Freed  men  at  this  post 
had  been  given,  more  than  a  year  previously,  by  the  chaplain  of 
the  25th  Massachusetts  Regiment,  then  stationed  there.  In  no 
place  in  the  District  were  the  negroes  more  in  earnest  to  obtain 
knowledge.  The  ladies  had  the  hearty  approval  and  kind  assis- 
tance of  Gen.  Wessells,  and  were  especially  aided  by  Lieut.  D. 
B.  McNary,  quartermaster  of  the  103d  Pennsylvania  Regiment, 
who  volunteered  to  act  as  my  assistant  in  Plymouth,  and  per- 
formed the  duty  with  efficiency  and  promptness. 

The  sudden  flight  of  the  ladies  compelled  them  to  leave  be- 
hind school-books,  school-furniture,  house-furniture  and  much 
clothing,  but  they  were  courageous  and  unterrified.  They  did 
not  desert  either  their  schools  or  their  colors,  but  stood  guard 
faithfully  at  their  post,  only  marching  when  they  were  ordered 
to  do  so,  and  going  where  they  were  directed  to  go. 

This  reverse  to  our  arms  cut  short  sundry  peaceful  enterpri- 


36  ANNUAL  REPORT   OF   THE   SUPERINTENDENT 

ses  which  had  been  projected  in  aid  of  the  Plymouth  freedmen. 
One  of  these  was  the  cutting  of  reeds  for  paper  making.  An 
agent  of  the  Fiber  Disintegrating  Co.,  of  Wall  St.  New  York, 
had  been  here  several  times  for  the  purpose  of  starting  the 
business,  and  was  on  the  point  of  succeeding,  when  Hoke  ap- 
peared before  the  town.  The  same  Hoke  is  answerable  for  the 
discontinuance  of  our  agricultural  operations,  our  fishing,  shingle 
making,  and  turpentine  farming.  The  Ram  ruled  the  hour  in 
Plymouth,  and  guarded  like  a  Cerberus  the  mouth  of  the  Roa- 
noke, until  the  night  when  Lieut.  Cushing  succeeded  in  explod- 
ing a  torpedo  beneath  her  armor  and  sinking  her.  So  Plymouth 
is  ours  again.  But  with  less  than  100  negroes  in  the  town,  there 
is  little  to  be  done  in  this  department  of  labor. 

Let  no  one  associate  Roanoke  river,  on  the  right  bank  of  which 
stands  the  town  of  Plymouth,  with  Roanoke  Island.  They  are 
nearly  one  hundred  miles  apart,  both  bearing  a  name  known 
chiefly  before  the  war  in  connection  with  the  nativity  of  that 
singailar  man,  John  Randolph.  The  river  is  navigable  for  small 
vessels  as  far  up  as  Weldon,  and  the  birthplace  of  Randolph  was 
in  the  little  town  of  Roanoke,  still  nearer  the  source  of  the  river. 
Roanoke  river  empties  into  Albemarle  Sound  at  its  west  end. 
Roanoke  Island  lies  near  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  Sound. 

WASHINGTON.  , 

This  town  lying  midway  between  Plymouth  and  New  Berne, 
on  the  Tar  or  Pamlico  river,  was,  before  the  war,  a  place  of  more 
importance  than  Plymouth,  but  somewhat  smaller  than  New 
B-T"ne.  Its  plan  is  perfectly  regular,  with  streets  crossing  one 
ant'ther  at  right  angles,  and  beautifully  shaded.  A  year  ago  it 
contained  a  colored  population  of  nearly  three  thousand,  where 
now  are  not  one  hundred. 

The  fall  of  Plymouth  hastened  its  evacuation  by  our  army. 
But  the  need  of  troops  for  the  Virginia  campaign  was  one  of  the 
causes  which  led  to  this  result. 

The  brave  defence  which  Gen.  Foster  made  here  the  year  be- 
fore having  given  the  place  some  celebrity,  our  troops  left  it  with 
regret.  But  especially  sorrowful  was  this  leave  taking  to  the 
colored  people,  who  parted  with  all  they  had,  forsaking  houses 
and  lands,  furniture,  clothing,  business,  and  all  the  associations 


OF  NEGRO   AFFAIRS   IN  NORTH    CAROLINA.  37 

of  home,  to  go  they  knew  not  where,  or  whether  ever  to  return. 
It  is  one  of  the  sad  things  in  the  current  history  of  these  people, 
that  every  change  in  the  posture  of  public  affairs,  every  move- 
ment of  an  army,  every  raid,  advance  or  retreat,  whether  of  our 
troops  or  of  the  other,  is  to  them  a  new  distress.  They  are 
ground  between  the  upper  and  the  nether  mill-stones,  and  who- 
ever has  success  the  negro  has  sorrow  and  suffering.  It  is  the 
terrible  discipline  through  which  the  race  will  be  brought  into  a 
higher  social  state.  These  are  the  pangs  of  the  nation's  new 
birth,  and  they  have  their  counterpart  and  complement  in  the 
mourning  which  fills  our  northern  homes.  The  wail  of  grief  is 
mingled  with  the  shouts  of  victory  every  time  the  wires  flash  out 
some  new  success.  But,  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  the  African 
alike,  these  great  tribulations,  so  sure  as  God  reigns,  must  work 
out  a  common  advantage,  and  bear  for  centuries  to  come  the 
peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness. 

Among  the  disappointments  attending  the  evacuation  of  Wash- 
ington was  the  relinquishment  of  the  land  we  had  already  put 
under  cultivation,  and  of  the  comfortable  dwellings  which  had 
been  erected  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Samuel  M.  Leathers,  my 
assistant  and  superintendent  there. 

Educational  matters  were  also  in  an  excellent  state.  The  pi- 
oneer teachers.  Miss  Fanny  Graves,  Miss  Sarah  T.  Dickinson, 
and  Miss  Anna  M.  Seavey,  with  those  afterward  associated  with 
them.  Miss  Mary  E.  Jones,  and  Miss  Annie  P.  Merriam,  deserve 
great  praise  for  the  prudence,  tact,  and  cheerful  energy  which 
they  brought  to  their  work,  in  a  community  greatly  prejudiced 
against  the  movement,  because  made  up  so  largely  of  persons 
born  in  North  Carolina. 

A  prosperous  school  of  white  children  was  here  taught  by  Miss 
Seavey,  until  her  health  failed.  It  was  not  reopened  before  the 
town  was  given  up,  and  our  forces  withdrawn. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  benevolent  spirit  of  our  female  teach- 
ers, and  of  the  whole  movement  as  well,  it  is  proper  that  men- 
tion should  be  made  of  the  assistance  rendered  by  these  ladies 
in  the  care  of  the  sick  white  refugees  at  Beaufort  and  Morehead. 
It  was  here  that  most  of  the  ladies  were  sent  for  a  time,  when 
hostile  incursions  were  so  prevalent  in  the  District  as  to  inter- 
rupt their  peaceful  avocations.     The  same  disturbances  had  filled 


38         ANNUAL  EEPORT  OF  THE  SUPERINTENDENT 

the  Hammond  and  Mansfield  General  Hospitals  with  poor  white 
people,  mostly  women  and  children,  whose  frail  constitutions 
were  completely  prostrated  under  the  hardships  and  discomforts 
of  a  forced  removal  from  home.  Among  these  refugees  our 
teachers  mo^'ed  like  ministering  angels.  They  took  by  assign- 
ment a  hospital  ward  each,  and  attended  to  those  helpless  pa^ 
tients,  day  and  night,  like  sisters  of  mercy.  Ignorant  people, 
they  could  scarcely  believe  their  own  eyes  when  they  saw  the 
despised  "  nigger  schoolma'am's  "  ministering  so  sedulously  to 
themselves  and  their  children.  Some  of  them  might  lia-\'e  ob- 
tained here  their  first  gleam  of  light,  on  the  subject  of  a  com- 
mon brotherhood  of  man.  Dr.  Ballanger,  of  the  Mansfield  Hos- 
pital at  Morehead,  since  deceased  of  yellow  fever,  testified  in 
terms  of  warmest  admiration  to  the  fidelity  and  skill  of  our 
teachers  while,  as  nurses  ad  interim,  they  sojourned  with  him. 

HATTERAS    INLET. 

At  this  point,  although  one  of  importance  to  us  in  a  military 
point  of  view,  there  are  so  few  colored  people,  that  only  an  occa- 
sional \isit  has  been  necessary  to  give  them  all  needed  atten- 
tion. A  few  hardy  negroes  are  employed  by  the  quartermaster 
to  man  the  boats  which  put  out  to  passing  vessels,  and  a  few  are 
servants  of  officers  at  the  fort.  Less  than  one  hundred  colored 
people  live  on  the  Banks,  all  the  way  from  Cape  Hatteras  to 
Ocracoke  Inlet. 

Most  of  those  who  resided  there  in  1861,  have  gone  to  other 
points  since  our  military  occupation  of  Eastern  North  Carolina. 

Having  touched  upon  tlie  principal  matters  of  interest  belong- 
ing to  the  several  posts  we  occupy  in  this  State,  as  they  stand 
connected  with  negro  affairs,  I  now  present  some  facts  and  gen- 
eral considerations  on  the  subject  of 

EDUCATION. 

My  earliest  interest  in  the  blacks  of  North  Carolina  had  respect 
to  their  training  in  the  elements  of  knowledge,  and  their  instruc- 
tion from  the  pulpit.  Long  before  assuming  my  present  charge, 
in  the  early  days  of  the  war,  when  the  experiences  of  the  Burn- 
side  Expedition  were  the  staple  of  current  news,  my  personal  ef- 
forts in  behalf  of  the  negroes  began. 


OF  NEGRO  AFFAIRS  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA.         39 

In  evening  schools,  very  soon  aftfir  our  friend  Vincent  Colyer 
left  the  field,  and  in  connection  with  otlier  chaplains,  particularly 
Messrs.  Woodworth  of  the  27th,  Stone  of  the  45th,  and  Hall  of 
the  44th,  Massachusetts  Regiments,  and  especially  with  Rev. 
James  Means,  chaplain  of  the  Foster  Hospital,  my  lamented 
predecessor  in  this  office,  whose  love  and  zeal  were  so  unquench- 
able, and  whose  beautiful  life  was  laid  down  a  willing  sacrifice 
to  save  a  suffering  people,  I  have  acted,  consulted,  and  labored 
in  this  department  during  a  period  of  more  than  three  years. 
Wlien  called  to  a  special  charge  of  this  business  by  Gen.  Foster, 
my  first  inquiries  and  correspondence  had  reference  to  the  open- 
ing of  day  schools  for  the  Freedmen,  to  be  taught  by  cultured 
females  from  the  North. 

The  first  schools  so  established  were  opened  in  New  Berne,  on 
the  23d  day  of  July,  1863,  in  two  of  the  colored  churches. 
One  was  taught  by  Miss  Betsey  L.  Canedy,  assisted  by  Miss  Alice 
Ropes,  and  the  other  by  Miss  Mary  A.  Burnap,  and  Miss  Susan 
A.  Hosmer,  all  from  the  State  of  Massachusetts.  It  is  therefore 
about  seventeen  months  since  the  first  day  school  for  colored  chil- 
dren was  opened  within  the  District  of  North  Carolina.  On  the  1st 
of  January,  1864,  the  number  of  different  pupils  in  all  the  schools 
was  1,500.  From  that  date  until  July  there  was  a  steady  in- 
crease in  the  attendance  from  month  to  month,  until  the  aggre- 
gate reached  nearly  3,000.  Sixty-six  different  teachers,  mostly 
from  the  North,  have  been  commissioned  and  have  labored  in  this 
field.  The  schools  were  closed  on  the  23d  of  July,  and  owing 
to  the  prevalence  of  yellow  fever  but  few  of  the  teachers  returned 
from  their  vacation  before  the  first  of  December. 

We  now  have  in  the  District,  nineteen  -day  schools  fully  at- 
tended and  most  successfully  taught.  Thirty-six  different  teach- 
ers are  employed,  and,  with  a  single  exception,  hold  two  sessions 
each  day.  In  some  of  the  schools  two,  three,  and  even  four 
teachers  are  engaged.  They  bring  to  their  work  a  great 
amount  of  enthusiasm  and  ability,  laboring  incessantly  in  school 
hours  to  improve  the  minds,  and  out  of  school  hours  to  clothe 
the  bodies  of  their  pupils. 

In  addition  to  the  day  schools  we  have  eight  flourishing  evening 
schools.  These  constitute  one  of  the  most  interesting  features 
of  the  work  of  education,  embracing  as  they  do  only  adults,  or 


40  ANNUAL  REPORT   OF   THE   SUPERINTENDENT 

those  unable  to  attend  a  day  school.  In  the  largest  of  these 
evening  schools,  15  teachers  are  employed,  instructing  170  pupils. 
Beyond  a  doubt  the  school  will  soon  increase  to  200,  when  we 
shall  be  compelled  to  limit  the  attendance.  The  whole  number 
attending  evening  schools  cannot  be  less  than  400  to  500.  We 
have  plans  matured  for  immediate  execution,  and  when  com- 
pleted, shall  have  in  New  Berne  proper,  one  advanced  school, 
and  eight  primaries  ;  at  Trent  River  Camp  five  large  schools ; 
at  Beaufort  three ;  at  Morehead  one  ;  at  Clumford  Creek  one ;  at 
Newport  and  vicinity  three  ;  and  at  Roanoke,  six  ;  Total  28. 
Already  we  have  commodious  quarters  for  all  the  teachers  we 
shall  need  at  New  Berne,  embracing  three  houses  ;  we  can  easi- 
ly enlarge  the  quarters  at  Roanoke  to  meet  increasing  wants ; 
and  at  the  other  places  there  will  be  no  difficulty  in  obtaining 
them  at  small  expense. 

Notwithstanding  that  our  efforts  have  been  greatly  interfered 
with  and  retarded  by  the  yellow  fever  and  its  malarial  accom- 
paniments, we  have  now  a  fair  prospect  of  at  least  doubling  our 
work  this  season,  and  laying  a  broad  foundation  for  the  future. 
The  schools  are  regularly  visited  by  the  Superintendent  of  Edu- 
cation, Rev.  William.  T.  Briggs,  and  monthly  reports  are  made, 
giving  the  statistics  and  general  condition  of  the  schools,  with 
accompanying  remarks.  These  are  sent  each  month  to  the  so- 
cieties supporting  the  teachers.  It  is  a  noticable  and  gratifying 
fact  that  there  is  as  much  eagerness  to  attend  school,  and  as 
much  interest  in  study  at  the  opening  of  this  year  as  when  the 
work  commenced,  and  everything  was  new. 

The  services  of  Mr.  Briggs  in  this  department  of  endeavor  have 
been  all  that  could  be"  desired.  His  mature  mind,  large  experi- 
ence in  educational  matters,  courteous  bearing,  and  thorough 
goodness  of  heart,  with  untiring  diligence  in  his  work,  have  won 
golden  opinions  from  those  who  have  come  in  contact  with  him. 
His  reorganization  of  the  schools  during  the  last  month,  wdicn  I 
was  too  ill  to  aid  him  with  one  word  of  counsel,  deserves  especial 
mention.  The  services  of  such  an  officer  give  unity  and  point  to 
all  our  operations  in  this  department.  We  wholly  ignore  sects 
and  sections,  and  labor  for  the  country's  welfare  by  striking  at 
that  ignorance  which  is  the  old  root  of  this  rebellion,  and  we 
welcome  as  honored  coadjutors  in  the  work,  all  whose  hearts 
and  hands  ai-p  consecrated  to  it. 


OF  NEGRO   AFFAIRS   IN   NORTH    CAROLINA. 


41 


At  this  point,  I  subjoin  a  list  of  all  the  teachers  who  have 
come  to  North  Carolina  up  to  this  date,  with  the  name  of  the 
organizations  which  commissioned  and  sent  them  out. 

Commissioned  by  the  New  England  FreedmerC s  Aid  Society, 
(^Educational  Commission.') 


Oscar  E.  Doolittle, 
Betsey  L.  Canedy, 
Alice  Ropes, 
Therese  O.  James, 
William  V.  West, 
Esther  C.  Warren, 
Sarah  M.  Pearson, 
Carrie  E.  Croome, 
Annie  P.  Merriam, 
Annie  C.  G.  Canedy, 

Males,  4. 


Females, 


Harriet  M.  Round, 
Elizabeth  M.  Tuttle, 
Anna  Gardner, 
Caroline  S.  Haven, 
Moses  G.  Kimball, 
Helen  M.  Ireson, 
George  AVarren, 
Margaret  E.  Smith, 
Frances  E.  Ellis, 
Elizabeth  Condon. 

16.  Total, 


20. 


Commissioned  by 

Mary  A.  Burnap, 
Susan  A.  Hosmer, 
Elizabeth  James, 
George  N.  Greene, 
E.  J.  Comings, 
Sarah  D.  Comings, 
Mary  Brownson, 
Carrie  M.  Getchell, 
A.  S.  Etheridge, 
Emily  S.  Gill, 
Rhoda  W.  Smith, 

Males,  4. 


the  American  Missionary  Association. 

Ella  E.  Roper, 
Harriet  Spalding, 
Abby  Winsor, 
Mary  H.  Howe, 
Samuel  S.  Nickerson, 
Mrs.  S.  S.  Nickerson, 
T.  Lyman, 
Mrs.  T.  Lyman, 
Nancy  .J.  McCullough, 
N.  D.  Francis, 
Vienna  McLean. 

Females,  18.  Total,   22. 


Commissioned  by  the  National  Freedmen^s  Relief  Association. 

Mrs.  J.  P.  R.  Hanly,  Helen  E.  Luckey, 

Maggie  Hanly,  Mary  A.  Rutherford, 

Helen  James,  Sarah  P.  Freeman, 

Lucretia  W.  Johnson,  Kate  S.  Freeman. 

Sarah  AV.  Tolman,  Anna  M.  Seavey, 

Sarah  T.  Dickinson,  Mary  E.  Jones, 

Fanny  Graves,  Frances  E.  Bonnell, 


42  ANNUAL  REPORT  OF  THE  SUPERINTENDENT 

Edward  S.  Fitz,  Antoinette  Turner, 

Emily  L.  Piper,  Richard  Boyle,  (Colored.) 

Eveline  Harris,  James  Keating,         " 

Juliet  B.  Smith,  Martha  Culling,         « 

Caroline  E.  Gould,  Robert  Morrow,         " 

Males,  4.  Females,   20.  Total,   24. 

Sent  out  by  no  Association,  hut  self-supporting. 

Eliza  P.  Perkins,  Jennie  B.  Bell. 

Females,   2. 

RECAPITULATION. 

New  England  Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  (White),  ....     20 
American  Missionary  Association,  "  ....  22 

National  Freedmen's  Relief  Association,   W^  ^     ^ '    *     *     '  "  ^ 

(  (Colored),    .     .      4 

Independent, 2 

Total, 68 

Whole  Number  Male  Teachers, 12 

Whole  Number  Female  Teachers, bQ 

Total, 68 

The  foregoing  list  shows  how  nearly  equally  the  teachers  sent 
to  North  Carolina  are  divided  between  the  three  organizations 
to  which  they  stand  accredited.  It  has  been  to  me  and  to  my 
associates  a  matter  of  solid  satisfaction  to  see  these  important 
agencies  so  kindly  co-operating.  It  is  like  the  soldiers  of  the 
regiments  fighting  side  by  side,  though  gathered  from  the  east 
and  from  the  west,  from  the  north  and  from  the  south.  We 
are  commencing  the  grandest  work  of  education  the  world  ever 
witnessed  ;  unspeakably  the  most  important  ever  entrusted  to 
men;  and  nothing  is  more  suitable  and  wise  than  to  prosecute 
it  with  a  spirit  free  from  all  jealousy  and  distrust.  If  any  one 
will  cast  out  devils  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  in  a  region  where 
devils  so  much  abound,  who  shall  dare  forbid  him  because  he 
foUoweth  not  ivith  us  ? 

No  aritlmietic  can  compute  the  amount  of  blessing  conferred 


OF  NEGRO    AFFAIRS   IN   NORTH   CAROLINA.  43 

by  these  sixty-eight  teachers,  even  in  this  brief  period.  Light 
has  been  flashed  for  the  first  time  into  hundreds  of  benighted 
minds,  with  an  effect  as  electric,  as  inspiring,  as  beautiful,  as 
when  the  Divine  Spirit  moved  upon  the  formless  void,  and  said, 
"'Let  there  be  light,'  and  there  was  light." 

The  teachers  who  have  deceased  during  the  year  are  the  fol- 
lowing :  Carrie  M.  Getchell,  and  Elizabeth  M.  Tuttle,  at  Beau- 
fort ;  and  Robert  Morrow,  (colored),  at  Roanoke  Island. 

Miss  Getchell  died  March,  14,  1864,  after  a  brief  but  painful 
illness.  Her  disease  was  acute  inflammation  of  the  glottis,  con- 
tracted by  exposure  and  too  close  application  to  her  duties. 
She  loved  her  work,  and  labored  for  her  Divine  Master  with  all 
her  heart  and  soul  and  strength.  She  was  a  person  of  robust 
health,  and  was  stationed  in  one  of  the  healthiest  localities  in  the 
State.  Yet  here  have  occurred  the  only  instances  of  mortality 
among  our  northern  teachers. 

Miss  Tuttle  died  of  yellow  fever  in  its  most  decided  and  fatal 
form.  She  was  tenderly  nursed  night  and  day  by  a  fellow 
teacher,  Miss  Graves,  who  passed  the  sickly  season  with  health 
unimpaired,  though  she  was  fearlessly  and  almost  continually 
among  the  sick  and  dying. 

Robert  Morrow,  at  the  time  of  his  decease,  was  a  sergeant  in 
the  1st  North  Carolina  Heavy  Artillery,  (colored  troops.)  He 
came  into  our  lines  at  the  time  of  an  attack  upon  New  Berne, 
and  had  been  for  many  years  a  body  servant  of  the  rebel  General 
Pettigrew,  whom  he  then  deserted  for  liberty  and  Union.  He 
had  a  decent  education,  having  been  with  Pettigrew  at  West 
Point,  and  Chapel  Hill,  North  Carolina,  and  was  an  enthusiastic 
and  excellent  teacher.  He  was  of  pure  African  blood,  had  an 
intellectual  cerebral  development,  and  a  patriotic  heart.  He 
died  su.ddenly,  and  in  his  bed,  having  retired  at  night  as  well 
as  usual.  He  was  then  engaged  in  recruiting  colored  troops  at 
Roanoke  Island.  It  matters  little  to  him  that  he  left  the  world 
without  warning,  for  he  daily  walked  with  God.  He  still  belongs 
to  the  great  army  which  marches  under  the  banner  of  truth,  but 
he  wears  a  conqueror's  wreath  and  sings  the  song  of  victory. 
His  was  a  short  war,  and  a  speedy  promotion. 

Not  only  the  decease  of  these  warm-hearted  workers,  but  the 
steady  progress  of  the  war  towards  its  termination  admonishes 


44  ANNUAL  REPORT    OF   THE   SUPERINTENDENT 

US  to  urge  forward  these  labors  of  love  with  all  possible  energy. 
This  is  our  hour  and  opportunity,  while  crowds  of  freedmen  are 
hovering  about  our  armies,  and  hiding  behind  our  fortifications, 
to  give  them  the  instruction,  and  impart  to  them  the  impulses 
which  they  will  retain  after  our  armies  are  recalled,  and  the  wave 
of  southern  population  has  rolled  back  wdthin  its  former  limits  ; 
which  will  prepare  them,  simple,  untutored  children  of  the  sun, 
for  the  new  responsibilities  of  life  under  freedom,  and  make 
them  helpful  of  the  honor  and  glory  of  the  State.  Upon  no  part 
of  our  work  do  I  look  with  such  satisfaction  as  upon  this. 

CONCLUSION. 

The  experience  of  the  last  year  has  confirmed  me  in  some 
opinions  which  a  previous  sojourn  of  two  years  in  North  Caro- 
lina had  suggested.     Let  them  be  taken  for  what  they  are  worth. 

The  negroes  are  not  so  helpless  and  depeiident  as  the  poor 
ivhites.  They  are  more  fertile  in  expedients,  more  industrious, 
more  religious,  and  more  active  and  vigorous  in  body  and  mind. 

The  pure  blooded  Africans  are  svperior  to  the  mulattoes. 
Mixture  of  blood  diminishes  vitality  and  force,  and  shortens  life. 
"What  is  gained  in  cerebral  development,  is  lost  in  tendency  to 
scrofula,  and  other  diseases.  Yellow  children  acquire  knowl- 
edge no  faster  than  blacks,  and  yellow  women  are  frailer  than 
their  dark  sisters.  "  Miscegenation  "  is  the  last  measure  to  be 
recommended  for  the  elevation  of  the  negro  race,  whether  mor- 
ally or  physically. 

The  negroes  are  grateful  for  liberty,  and  but  little  inclined  to 
abuse  it.  They  know,  as  we  do  not,  what  slavery  means,  and 
are  truly  grateful  that  they  have  escaped  it.  It  would  be  natu- 
ral enough  for  their  minds  to  react,  and  go  to  the  other  extreme 
of  rude  and  disgusting  boldness  in  their  new  powers  and  privi- 
leges. But  only  occasionally  is  one  found  who  would  put  upon 
the  white  man's  limbs  the  fetters  which  have  dropped  from  his 
own.  Devout  thankfulness  to  God  is  their  prevailing  senti- 
ment. 

The  negroes  strongly  aspire  to  the  common  rights  of  citizens. 
If  they  have  been  set  free,  they  want  liberty  to  buy  and  sell  and 
get  gain,  to  select  and  favor  their  own  church,  school,  and  party, 
to  defend  themselves,  to  litigate  with  and  implead  one  another, 


OF  NEGRO   AFFAIRS  IN  NORTH   CAROLINA.  45 

to  hold  written  documents  instead  of  verbal  promises,  and  to 
manage  their  own  affairs.  They  form  societies,  leagues,  combi- 
nations, meetings,  with  little  of  routine  or  record,  but  much  of 
speech-making,  and  sage  counsel. 

They  almost  adore  the  persons  ivho  have  brought  them  deliver- 
ance. They  are  hero  worshippers.  The  eternal  progress  of  ideas 
they  comprehend  not,  but  Abraham  Lincoln  is  to  them  the  chief- 
est  among  ten  thousand,  and  altogether  lovely.  They  mingle 
his  name  with  their  prayers  and  their  praises  evermore.  They, 
have  great  reverence  for  the  "  head  men  "  and  for  all  in  author- 
ity, and  hence  are  easily  governed.  Even  in  their  afflictions  they 
retain  this  vanity.  A  message  recently  came  to  me  that  a  colored 
man  in  a  certain  cabin  across  the  river  "  had  been  under  deep 
concern  of  mind,  since  last  Friday,  and  wanted  the  General  to 
come  to  see  him,  with  the  two  head  clergymen  in  the  place." 
The  delegate  of  some  local  society  who  has  been  to  the  front,  and 
obtained  an  audience  with  Gen.  Butler,  or  some  other  dignitary, 
will  never  have  done  rehearsing  the  circumstance. 

They  are  sloiv  and  shiftless  workers.  Seldom  does  one  of 
them  do  a  good  day's  work,  when  laboring  for  another  party. 
Their  own  rude,  bungling,  slipshod  style,  seldom  forsakes  them. 
It  almost  gives  one  the  backache  to  witness  their  labor.  Not 
that  they  mean  to  be  idle,  but  their  habit  is  to  strike  a  few  blows, 
and  then  lean  against  a  fence  in  the  sun,  and  the  last  as  much 
as  the  first.  They  never  saw  a  gentleman  work,  until  the  Yan- 
kees came  here,  and  before  this  time  their  only  rule  was  to  do  as 
little  as  they  could. 

The  ownership  of  real  estate  is  their  strongest  incentive  to  irv- 
dustry.  Give  them  a  piece  of  mother  earth,  and  a  "  scrip  o'  pa- 
per "  to  show  for  it,  and  they  are  as  happy  as  kings.  Be  it 
swampy  or  scrubby,  with  roots  and  bushes,  or  sandy,  or  wooded, 
it  matters  not.  Up  goes  a  house,  down  sinks  a  well,  and  soon 
pigs  and  chickens  appear  on  the  scene,  and  l^he  farm  is  inaugura- 
ted with  a  cornfield  and  a  collard  patch  and  rows  of  sweet  pota- 
toes between. 

They  will  do  better  in  the  society  of  whites  than  in  separate 
communities.  At  least  for  the  present  and  until  the  enterprising 
and  thrifty  among  them  have  become  wealthy  and  able  to  furnish 
occupation  to  the  remainder,  the  more  intelligent  race  must  em- 


46  ANNUAL  REPORT   OF  THE   SUPERINTENDENT 

ploy  and  pay  them.  They  are  now  a  nation  of  servants.  They 
will  always  make  the  most  faithful,  pliable,  obedient,  devoted 
servants  that  can  enter  our  dwellings.  And  the  foolish  preju- 
dice against  color  which  prevails,  I  am  forced  to  believe,  even 
among  the  best  people  of  the  North,  should  immediately  give 
way,  that  they  may  take  their  proper  place  in  all  our  households : 
not  to  throw  white  laborers  out  of  employment,  but  to  lift  them 
higher  in  the  social  scale,  and  engage  them  in  labors  which  re- 
quire more  skill.  In  the  successive  orders  or  ranks  of  industrial 
pursuits,  those  who  have  the  least  intelligence  must  needs  per- 
form the  more  menial  services,  without  respect  to  color  or  birth. 
Give  the  colored  man  equality,  not  of  social  condition,  but  equal- 
ity before  the  law,  and  if  he  proves  himself  the  superior  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon,  who  can  hinder  it  ?  If  he  shall  fall  below  him, 
who  can  help  it  ?  undoubtedly  the  negro  has  his  own  place  under 
republican  institutions,  and  eternal  laws  are  sure  to  bring  him 
into  position.     This,  at  least,  is  our  "  south-side  view." 

Their  elevation  as  a  race  is  a  work  of  patience  and  time.  The 
growth  of  character  is  slow,  especially  if  one  must  unlearn  the 
traditions  of  a  lifetime  to  prepare  him  to  commence  aright.  One 
is  sorely  tempted  at  times  to  throw  up  the  work  in  disgust.  The 
soil  seems  so  unpromising,  so  choked  with  poisonous  weeds,  as 
to  defy  cultivation.  The  negroes  are  so  untrustworthy,  so  full 
of  all  deceitfulness  and  dishonesty,  so  enveloped  in  dirt  and 
rags,  that  we  ask  in  despair.  Is  there  rain  enough  in  the  sweet 
heavens  to  cleanse  them,  or  grace  sufficient  to  renew  them  ? 

The  doubt  is  but  for  a  moment ;  for  these  poor  creatures  are 
surely  more  sinned  against  than  sinning.  The  shadow  of  a  pas- 
sing disgust  at  the  abject  negro  is  changed  into  the  fervor  of  a 
holy  indignation  against  the  crime  that  debased  him  when  we 
reflect  upon  the  pent  up  abuses  of  many  generations  now  let 
loose  in  judgment  upon  the  land,  and  hear  the  voice  of  the  Lord, 
like  muttering  thunders,  saying,  let  my  peoj)le  go.  Verily,  with 
Paul  the  apostle,  we  are  "  debtors  to  the  bond,"  as  well  as  to  the 
free.  The  temporary  support  of  a  few  hundred  thousand  negroes 
is  but  a  trifling  incident  for  tliis  nation,  and  is  more  than  coun- 
tervailed by  their  services  in  the  field.  When  we  have  gone  in- 
to every  corner  of  the  South,  and  carried  liberty  and  laws,  art 
and  enterprise,  learning  and  pure  religion  to  all  these  people 


OP  NEGRO   AFFAIRS  IN  NORTH   CAROLINA.  47 

with  painstaking  and  in  the  spirit  of  love,  then  and  not  till  then, 
shall  we  have  paid  the  debt. 

The  colored  people  will  raise  tip  and  support  their  own  preach- 
ers. They  are  a  religious  people.  On  Sundays,  arrayed  in  their 
best,  they  statedly  frequent  the  sanctuary  to  sing,  and  praise,  and 
pray.  There  is  no  lack  of  ministers  among  them.  Their  pre- 
paration to  preach  is  small,  but  their  fluency  great,  and  their  use 
of  language  remarkable.  The  St.  Andrews  Methodist  Church  in 
New  Berne  has  raised  a  thousand  dollars  for  church  purposes 
the  past  year.  The  colored  people  fear  God,  are  free  from  pro- 
fanity, and  highly  prize  worship.  Almost  the  only  comfort  they 
enjoyed  under  slavery  was  derived  from  this  source.  It  may  be 
that  their  changed  condition  will  train  them  into  the  vices  of  a 
higher  state  of  Christian  society,  and  make  profanity,  drunken- 
ness and  crime  as  common  among  them  as  it  is,  alas !  among  the 
dominant  race.     But  we  hope  not. 

The  first  want  of  the  negroes  is  instruction  by  devoted  and  cul- 
tured teachers.  Schools,  academies,  institutes,  colleges,  univer- 
sities, may  all  be  needed  by  and  by.  But  at  present  schools  only. 
The  tyranny  under  which  they  have  been  ground  was  nursed  by 
ignorance.  Upon  intelligent  people  it  would  have  been  power- 
less. Send  out  teachers  then,  and  especially  female  teachers. 
Let  them  follow  in  the  track  of  every  conquering  army.  Let 
them  swarm  over  the  savannas  of  the  South.  Bring  hither  the 
surplus  of  females  in  New  England,  greatly  increased  by  the  be- 
reavements of  war,  for  here  it  can  essentially  contribute  to  the 
national  wealth  and  honor.  No  more  beautiful  resolution  of  a 
difficult  and  delicate  social  dilemma  can  be  conceived  of. 

My  relations  to  the  military  authorities  of  the  Department,  and 
of  the  District  and  several  Posts  as  well,  has  been  so  uninterrup- 
tedly cordial,  as  to  make  the  conduct  of  negro  affairs  far  easier 
than  it  would  have  been  under  a  state  of  distrust  and  jealousy. 
The  number  of  officers  who  sneer  at  the  idea  of  freedom,  educa- 
tion, and  advancement  for  the  African  race  in  America  is,  for- 
tunately for  the  service,  growing  less  every  day.  The  current 
of  public  opinion  and  the  resistless  logic  of  events  is  too  strong 
for  them.  Those  who  make  a  stand  against  this  sentiment  of 
the  age  will  go  down  before  it  to  rise  no  more.  Those  who  at- 
tach themselves  to  it  will  advance  with  it  to  historic  success. 


48  ANNUAL   REPOET  OF  THE  SUPERINTENDENT 

The  negro  made  free  is  the  great  fact  of  this  century,  and  its 
vouchers  are  a  national  debt  of  two  thousand  millions  of  dollars 
and  the  graves  of  half  a  million  of  young  men ! 

My  official  duties  in  North  Carolina  have  been  greatly  aided 
by  my  assistant  superintendents.  Especially  were  the  labors 
of  Rev.  Clarendon  Waite  of  use  to  the  service  at  New  Berne, 
during  the  first  half  of  the  year.  Could  we  have  offered  an  ade- 
quate compensation  to  this  gentleman,  he  might  perhaps  have 
been  retained  permanently,  if  it  be  proper  to  apply  the  term 
permanent  to  a  service  which  is  confessedly  but  temporary,  and 
preparatory  to  a  new  organization  of  society. 

To  present  the  business  of  the  last  year  to  the  eye  of  the  read- 
er in  a  more  compact  and  tangible  form,  a  statement  is  here 
given  of  our  operations  in  the  form  of  a  debt  and  credit  account. 
From  this  it  may  be  seen  what  the  government  has  done,  for  the 
negroes,  and  in  part  what  the  negroes  have  done  for  themselves. 
It  will  serve  to  show,  at  least,  that  the  aid  extended  by  the  gov- 
ernment to  these  people  in  their  homelessness  and  poverty,  is  in 
some  measure  compensated  by  their  patient  and  faithful  efforts 
on  their  own  behalf.  They  have  not  been  supported  as  mendi- 
cants, but  helped  frugally  and  considerately. 


OF  NEGRO  AFFAIRS  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA. 


49 


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ANNUAL  REPORT   OF  THE   SUPERINTENDENT 


ABSTRACT    A. 

FaZwe  0/ Quartermaster's  Shoues  furnished  bp  the  Government 
for  use  of  Freedmen  in  the  Third  District,  during  the  year 
ending  December  Z\st,  1864. 


Fuel,     .        .        .        . 
Forage, 
Stationery, 
Office  Furniture, 
Means  of  Transportation, 
Building  Materials, 
Blacksmith's  Tools, 
Carpenter's  Tools, 
Mason's  Tools, 
Miscellaneous  Tools,   . 
Stores  for  Expenditure,  . 

Total,     . 


$203.40 

4,649.04 

45.20 

10.00 

4,148.10 

416.26 

62.87 

76.29 

2.00 

38.62 

16.59 

$9,668.37 


ABSTRACT     B 


Value  of  Clothing,  Camp,  and  Garrison  Equipage  furnished  by 
the  Government  for  use  of  Freedmen  in  the  Third  District, 
during  the  year  ending  Dec.  2>lst,  1864. 


dIc?3i.  Clothing,  (condemned,) 
Clothing,  (new,) 
Tents,  (condemned,) 
Tent  Poles  and  Pins,  (condemned,) 
Knapsacks,  &c.,  (condemned,) 

Total,       ..... 


$654.00 

51.98 

4,970.00 

216.67 

9.14 

^5,901.79 


OP  NEGRO   AFFAIRS  IN  NORTH   CAROLINA. 


51 


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Cost  of  Eations   depen- 
for  soldier's  fa-  deiits   & 
mllies.                iiefUKecs 

1 

J3 

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cocococoin^TTfcoco-^coco 

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■^coocomooincoojco-*-* 

ooino  —  ov  in  —  (MOO  —  oco 
^cooii^oic-icoCTJoi  —  —  (>i 
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in  CO  in  co"  C7>  »  00"  ~f  co"  ci"  — "  co^ 

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■Whole 
No.  of 
persons 

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inincDcoi^cDcococDt^coi>. 

January  

February 

March 

April  

May 

June 

July 

Aue;ust 

Scjjtember 

October 

November 

December 

3 
0 

52  ANNUAL  REPORT   OF  THE   SUPERINTENDENT 

ABSTRACT     D. 

Cash  received  from  General  Superintendent  of  Negro  Affairs 
for  payment  of  Assistants^  Clerks ,  and  Laborers  in  the  Third 
District. 

1864. 

Feb.  23.     By  cash  received  from  Lieut.  Col.  J.  B.  Kinsman, 

•  Supt.  General  Negro  Affairs,  .         .         .  $1,257.56 

Apr.  26.     By  cash  received  from  Lieut.  Col.  Kinsman,  by 

hand  of  Captain  Orlando  Brown,  A.  Q.  M.,      .     1,529.84 

Aug.  27.     By  cash  received  from  Major  George  J.   Carney, 

Supt.  General  Negro  Affairs,  .         .         .     2,000.00 

Oct.  14.     By  cash  received  from  Major  G.  J.  Carney,  .     6,704.25 

Total, $11,491.65 


ABSTRACT     E. 

Value  of  Permanent  Improvements  made  in  the  Third  District 
during;  the  year  ending  Dec.  31,  1864. 

Class.  Value. 

Mill,       ....     One  Steam  Saw  and  Grist  Mill,       .     .  $20,000 

Schools,      .     .     .     Five  School  Houses  on  Roanoke  Island,  925 

Three  School  Houses  at  New  Berne,    .  700 

Storehouses,  &c.,    One  Commissary  Storehouse,  Roanoke,  600 

One  Commissary  Storehouse,  New  Berne,  1,500 

One  Small  Pox  Hospital,  Roanoke  Isl.,  150 

One  Storehouse,  Roanoke  Island,     .     .  350 

One  Storehouse  for  Fish, 350 

DvTELLiNG  Houses,  Eight  hundred  Houses  in  Trent  River 

Settlement,  at  $20  each,      ....  16,000 
Three  hundred   houses  in  city  of  New 

Berne,  $40  each,        12,000 

Five  hundred  and  ninety-one  houses  and 
improved  lots  at  Roanoke  Island,  at 

$75  each, 44,325 

Ten  houses  at  Beaufort,  at   $100  each,  1,000 
Dwelling  House  for  camp  superintend- 
ent and  teachers,        500 

Total,        $98,400 


OF  NEGRO   AFFAIRS   IN   NORTH   CAROLINA.  58 


ABSTRACT    F. 

Value  of  Articles  Fabricated  in  the  Third  District,  during-  the 
Year  ending-  Dec.  31,  1864. 

Date.  No.  Quahtitt.                      Articles.                Value. 

Dec.  31,  .  .  225,000  .  .  .  225,000  feet,    .  .  .  Lumber,  ....  $6,750 

"      "  .  .  1,000  .  .  .       1,000  cords, .  .  .  Pine  Wood,   .  .     3,000 

«      «  .  .  200  ..  .          200  cords, .  .  .  Hard  Wood,  .  .        800 

Total, $10,550 


ABSTRACT     G 


Cash  Receipts  from  various  sources,  by  the  Department  of  Negro 
Affairs,  Third  District,  during  the  year  ending  Dec.  31, 1864. 

Dec.  31.     Fi'om  sale  and  letting  of  public  horses,         .         .  $1,173.50 

From  sales  of  clothing  and  private  stores,         .  2,581.82 

From  sales  of  camp  grease,         ....  1,189.57 
From  proceeds  of  grinding  at  the  grain  mill  on 

Roanoke  Island,         .....  98.30 

Total, $5,043.19 


The  foregoing  statistical  tables  will  show  that  the  department  of 
negro  affairs  has  not  been  fully  self-supporting  in  North  Carolina 
during  the  first  year  of  its  operations.  It  is,  however,  gratifying 
to  see  that  it  has  accomplished  what  it  has.  The  increase  in  the 
issue  of  food  to  the  blacks  in  the  month  of  May  over  the  prece- 
ding month,  is  due  to  the  capture  of  Plymouth  and  the  evacua- 
tion of  Washington  which  caused  a  great  increase  of  refugees  at 
Roanoke  Island,  New  Berne,  and  Beaufort.  The  number  assist- 
ed steadily  decreased  until  September,  when  the  yellow  fever, 
even  more  formidable  than  a  raid  of  rebels,  unfurled  its  dread 
banner  before  our  eyes.  The  colored  people  suffered  with  the 
whites,  and,  as  all  business  was  suspended,  a  larger  number  than 
before  required  charitable  aid. 

The  column  of  "  Savings  to  Government  "  requires  explana- 


54         ANNUAL  REPORT  OF  THE  SUPERINTENDENT 

tion.  Let  it  be  observed,  that  we  are  not  ordered  to  issue  the 
full  dependent  ration  to  all  poor  and  needy  blacks,  but  only  to 
give  them  necessary  sustenance,  and  prevent  positive  suffering. 
With  the  families  of  soldiers  it  is  otherwise.  They  receive  the 
fixed  and  full  allowance.  To  give  the  poor  and  dependent 
enough  to  sustain  them  in  indolence  was  never  intended.  To 
give  them  enough  to  encourage  and  stimulate  them  to  help 
themselves  is  what  we  have  endeavored  to  do.  The  difference 
between  this  and  the  full  ration  may  therefore  be  properly  con- 
sidered a  saving  to  the  government  in  the  administration  of  this 
charity. 

The  balance  of  accounts  for  the  year  would  have  been  upon 
the  other  side,  if  the  abandoned  farms  and  turpentine  planta- 
tions of  this  District,  or  even  half  of  them,  had  been  in  the  hands 
of  the  superintendent  of  negro  affairs.  The  agent  of  the  Treas- 
ury Department  had  the  sole  management  of  these  farms. 

And  while  they  were  occupied  in  many  instances  by  colored 
lessees,  and  almost  wholly  worked  by  them,  the  department  of 
negro  affairs  was  not  pecuniarily  benefited  thereby.  In  matter 
of  fact  it  is  the  same  thing  however,  and  the  earnings  of  the  ne- 
groes ivithin  our  lines  in  North  Carolina,  have  far  exceeded  the 
expenses  of  the  government  on  their  behalf  When  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Freedmen,  and  of  the  abandoned  lands  shall  be 
confided  to  the  same  hands,  so  that  they  may  be  settled  upon 
them,  and  protected  in  their  culture  and  care,  it  admits  of  no 
doubt  that  their  labor  will  both  prove  remunerative  to  them- 
selves and  a  source  of  new  wealth  to  the  country.  The  manu- 
facturers of  the  North  will  scarcely  be  able  to  supply  the  South, 
in  those  swift  coming  days  when  almost  every  negro  will  be  a 
cash  paying  customer. 

For  the  present  it  is  plain  .that  the  negroes  must  be  sheltered 
under  the  protecting  wing  of  the  government,  and  be  trained 
into  self-reliance  and  independence.  They  need  a  special  agen- 
cy to  manage  their  affairs  at  the  nation's  capital.  They  will  re- 
quire for  a  time  a  central  superintendence  in  each  State  that 
has  been  afflicted  with  slavery.  At  least  until  the  return  of  the 
seceded  States  into  the  Union,  and  the  enactment  by  them  of 
new  laws  in  the  interest  of  freedom,  this  national  tutilage  of  the 
negro  must  continue.     Otherwise   he   will  not  have  an  even 


OF  NEGRO   AFFAIRS  IN   NORTH   CAROLINA.  55 

chance  to  rise,  and  his  new  born  privileges  will  be  turned  into  a 
curse. 

I  respectfully  suggest  that  a  change  ought  to  be  made  in  the 
issue  of  rations  to  the  families  of  colored  soldiers.  The  wages 
of  all  common  soldiers  are  now  the  same.  Many  wives  of  sol- 
diers are  well  able  to  support  themselves  by  their  own  labor. 

Many  now  receive  supplies  of  money  from  their  husbands  in 
the  army.  To  give  them  all  full  rations  without  regard  to  their 
circumstances  is  teaching  them  to  be  indolent,  saucy,  and  un- 
chaste. Slender  as  is  the  marriage  tie  among  them,  strong  as 
are  their  passions,  it  is  not  strange  that  they  often  prove  unfaith- 
ful to  their  husbands  in  the  field.  Would  it  not  be  better  for  the 
government  to  extend  aid  to  the  needy  among  these  people,  and 
not  bestow  it  upon  all  ?  Or  to  feed  the  children  only  and  the 
sick  and  very  aged,  requiring  the  able  bodied  to  support  them- 
selves ? 

The  year  past  has  been  one  of  experiment,  and  our  work  that 
of  pioneers.  Some  things  have  been  learned,  some  things  be- 
g-un,  and  some,  we  trust,  well  done.  If  our  successors  shall  con- 
tinue to  feel  their  way  along  the  path  of  progress,  to  welcome 
each  kind  auxiliary,  adopt  each  improved  method,  and  act  on  every 
suggestion  of  experience,  the  duty  of  the  age  will  be  performed. 
It  is  a  work  of  faith  and  patience.  We  have  been  conversant 
with  its  beginnings.     Its  end  who  can  foresee  ? 

I  have  the  honor  to  be.  Major,  with  great  respect, 

Very  faithfully,  yours, 

HORACE    JAMES, 

Capt.,  and  A.  Q.  M., 

Supt.  Negro  Affairs,  Dist.  of  N.  C. 


APPENDIX. 


CONTINUING  THE   HISTORY  OF  THE  MANAGEMENT  OF  FREEDMEN'S   AF- 
FAIRS  IN   NORTH    CAROLINA   DOWN  TO   JUNE   IST,  1865. 


Early  in  the  year  1865,  active  preparations  began  to  be  made  to  change  the 
base  of  supplies  of  Sherman's  army  from  Savannah  to  Eastern  North  Carolina. 
To  this  end  Morehead  City  was  occupied  by  the  Quartermasters  and  Commis- 
saries of  that  army  ;  and  Mansfield  Hospital  was  broken  up.  The  Construction 
Corps  were  landed  there,  who  f^ommenced  to  build  storehouses,  relay  the  rail- 
road, enlarge  the  piers,  and  otherwise  prepare  to  land  and  transport  from  this 
point  supplies  sufficient  for  a  hundred  thousand  men.  The  bay  and  roadstead 
about  Morebead  and  Beaufort  were  soon  filled  with  loaded  transports,  and  the 
harbor  swarmed  with  troops  and  munitions  of  war. 

This  new  activity  swept  into  its  current,  for  the  time,  every  other  interest. 
For  a  few  weeks  labor  was  in  pressing  demand,  and  large  gangs  worked  through 
the  day,  only  to  be  relieved  by  others,  which  worked  through  the  night.  All  the 
able-bodied  negroes  in  the  Department  were  offered  employment  at  the  best 
wages,  and  whoever  hesitated  was  persuaded  to  work  by  the  solicitation  of  the 
bayonet.  Not  half  enough  could  be  found  within  our  lines  to  perform  the  needed 
services,  and  large  details  of  soldiers  were  made  for  fatigue  duty,  in  addition  to 
the  thousands  taken  up  by  the  Quartermasters  upon  the  rolls  of  labor. 

At  this  time  matters  were  rapidly  culminating  in  the  Confederacy.  Fort 
Fisher  had  fallen.  The  capital  of  South  Carolina  had  been  occupied.  Charles- 
ton was  evacuated,  and  Wilmington  could  hold  out  but  a  little  longer.  As 
soon  as  this  famous  headquarters  of  blockade-running  had  also  succumbed  to  the 
Union  forces,  and  Gen.  Sherman  had  sent  thither  thousands  of  refugees  from 
Fayetteville,  some  hundreds  of  these  were  brought  to  Morehead,  quartered  in 
the  buildings  lately  used  for  hospital  purposes,  and  employed  in  the  government 
service. 

About  the  same  time  with  these  important  army  movements,  Gen.  Butler 
was  relieved  of  the  command  of  the  Department  of  Virginia  and  Noith  Caro- 
lina, f  nd  the  last  named  State  was  annexed  to  the  Department  of  the  South. 
This  brought  North  Carolina  under  the  jurisdiction  of  its  former  commander, 
Gen.  J.  G.  Foster.  This  arrangement,  however,  was  suddenly  terminated  by 
the  erection  of  North  Carolina  into  a  separate  department,  as  it  had  been  for- 
merly under  Burnside,  in  1862.   Major  Gen.  Schofield  was  placed  in  command^ 


APPENDIX.  5T 

having  brought  hither  the  gallant  Army  of  the  Ohio,  the  headquarters  of  which 
were  now  established  upon  the  Atlantic  sea-board. 

Soon  after  the  entry  of  Gen.  Schofield  upon  his  new  command,  his  attention 
was  called  to  the  fact,  that  families  of  southern  soldiers,  both  white  and  colored, 
were  supplied  with  rations  by  the  government  without  regard  to  their  particular 
needs.     Whereupon  he  issued   very  wisely,  the  following  order : 


SHbadquartbes  Department  of  North  Carolina, 
(Army  of  the  Ohio  ) 
New  Berne,  N.  C,  March  18,  1865. 

All  able  bodied  men,  within  the  lines  of  the  Army,  who  have  no  legitimate 
employment,  are  required  to  report  without  delay  to  the  nearest  Provost  Mar- 
shal for  enrollment,  in  order  that  they  may  be  employed  in  the  Quartermaster's 
Department.  Provost  Marshals  will  take  measures  to  secure  full  compliance 
with  this  order  within  their  respective  jurisdictions. 

The  names  of  all  persons  enrolled  will  be  reported  to  Brig.  Gen.  L.  C.  Eas- 
TON,  Chief  Quartermaster  Mihtary  Division  of  the  Mississippi,  and  upon  his  re- 
quisition such  number  as  he  may  require  will  be  ordered  to  report  to  him  for 
labor  in  the  Quartermaster's  Department.  They  will  while  so  employed,  receive 
the  usual  compensation  and  subsistence. 

Hereafter  the  Commissary  Department  will  not  issue  rations  to  any  person 
not  in  the  Government  service,  except  such  as  are  unable  from  age  or  infirmity 
to  work,  and  are  actually  dependent  upon  charity  for  their  support.  There  is 
work  enough  for  all,  and  none  will  be  allowed  to  live  in  idleness  while  supported 
by  the  Government. 

The  General  commanding  the  District  of  Beaufort  will  cause  this  order  to  be 
strictly  complitd  with. 

By  command  of  Major-General  Schofield  : 

J.  A.  CAMPBELL,  Assist  Adj't  General. 

This  order,  so  far  as  it  respects  the  colored  people,  being  in  accordance  with 
the  views  suggested  at  the  close  of  my  report  for  the  last  year,  has  worked  well 
in  practice,  and  compelled  some  to  engage  in  remunerative  labor  who  would 
otherwise  have  continued  to  eat  the  bread  of  idleness.  If  the  pay  of  colored 
soldiers  had  been  more  promptly  given  them,  they  would  have  provided  food  for 
their  families.  Indeed  it  would  have  been  a  great  saving  to  the  government  to 
have  made  more  frequent  settlements  with  its  colored  employes,  for  so  long  as 
they  had  no  cash  in  hand,  they  had  no  means  of  hving,  and  must  be  helped  as  a 
charity. 

After  Gen.  Sherman  had  arrived  at  Goldsboro',  and  opened  the  eastern  gates 
of  the  Old  North  State,  it  was  wonderful  to  see  how  the  dark  tide  of  population 
rolled  into  the  sea-board  towns.  Ten  thousand  entered  Wilmington,  five  thousand 
New  Berne,  and  in  large  numbers  they  came  down  to  other  places  on  the  coast. 
Some  had  followed  that  victorious  army  from  the  heart  of  South  Carolina,  some 
had  come  even  from  Savannah.  But  most  had  left  their  homes  along  the  route 
of  that  grand  march,  and,  glad  to  escape  from  their  old  servitude,  had  pressed 
forward  until  they  could  go  no  farther.  Pitiable  was  the  condition  of  many  of 
them,  when  they  entered  our  lines.  Footsore  and  weary,  ragged  and  dusty 
from  travel,  mostly  without  covering  for  either  their  feet  or  heads,  some  of  them 
emaciated  and  already  marked  as  victims  of  death,  afflicted  with  hocirse  hollow 


58  "  APPENDIX. 

coughs,  with  measles,  with  malarial  chills,  it  seemed  like  anything  but  a  land  of 
promise  into  which  they  had  come.  But  they  were  happy,  and  did  not  com- 
plain. With  the  characteristic  cheerfulness  of  the  negro,  which  is  an  admirable 
and  beautiful  feature  of  his  character,  they  went  singing  along,  and  still,  though 
living  in  want  and  destitution,  they  continue  to  sing. 

Our  stores  of  clothing  were  soon  exhausted,  and  an  appeal  was  issued,  not  in 
vain,  to  the  good  people  of  the  North  to  send  us  more.  The  same  warm  friends 
of  suffering  humanity  who  had  once  and  again  supplied  our  wants,  and  who  had 
just  responded  to  an  urgent  appeal  in  behalf  of  Savannah  and  Charleston,  lis- 
tened kindly  also,  when  we  spoke  of  Wilmington  and  New  Berne.  The  Friends 
at  Philadelphia  sent  us  very  promptly  a  valuable  invoice  of  clothing,  shoes,  hats, 
caps,  blankets,  axes  and  seeds.  The  National  Freedmen's  Relief  Association 
sent  a  large  quantity  of  clothing.  The  New  England  Freedmen's  Aid  Society, 
forwarded  sundry  valuable  boxes  of  clothing  and  other  goods.  And  the  Rhode 
Island  Freedmen's  Association,  a  new  but  vigorous  society,  added  an  important 
contribution  to  the  donations  of  its  elder  sisters.  These  supplies  have  done  in- 
calculable good,  and  have  relieved  the  most  pressing  cases  of  suffering  and  want. 
During  the  warm  weather  the  people,  even  in  their  poverty,  will  get  on  comfort- 
ably. But  the  next  winter  will  be  one  of  trial,  it  is  to  be  feared,  beyond  any 
in  the  history  of  this  war. 

Had  hostilities  ceased  a  couple  of  months  earlier,  much  more  land  would  have 
been  put  under  cultivation  this  season,  and  perhaps  food  enough  would  have 
been  produced  in  the  State  for  the  supply  of  all  its  inhabitants,  white  and  black- 
But  it  can  hardly  prove  so  now.  When  Johnston's  army  surrendered,  it  was  late 
planting  time,  and  the  horses  and  mules  needed  for  plowing,  had  mostly  been 
captured,  and  put  to  army  uses.  It  will  require  at  least  a  year  to  bring  the 
cleared  lands  of  the  State,  large  tracts  of  which  have  lain  faUow  during  the 
whole  war,  into  cultivation  again. 

Those  portions  of  the  State  which  were  overrun  by  Gen.  Sherman's  army 
were  stripped  of  all  food  and  stock,  and  the  people  who  resided  there  were  re- 
duced to  positive  want.  It  was  a  matter  of  necessity  that  the  negroes  should 
leave  their  homes  and  congregate  in  the  large  towns.  Hunger  and  fear  of  the 
rebels,  and  a  sense  of  liberty,  alike  impelled  them  to  foUow  the  army,  though  it 
was  attended  with  great  hardship  and  suffering.  Many  poor  creatures  who  then 
left  their  homes  will  never  see  them  again.  What  with  long  marches,  and  hun- 
ger, and  exposure  to  cold  and  rain,  with  insufficient  clothing  and  shelter,  and 
not  unfrequently  rudeness  and  cruelty,  on  the  part  of  those  who  ought  to  have 
been  their  defenders,  and  toward  whom  they  looked  with  all  confidence  as  de- 
liverers, these  people  have  melted  away  almost  as  rapidly  as  if  they  had  been 
swept  with  grape  and  cannister,  and  their  routes  of  travel  are  marked  with 
freshly  made  graves. 

Government  aid  was  freely  but  judiciously  administered  to  them,  in  the 
form  of  simple  food,  and  none  were  allowed  to  die  of  hunger.  But  so  soon 
as  hostilities  had  ceased,  and  it  became  safe  for  the  freedmen  to  return  to 
their  former  residences  without  fear  of  violence,  they  were  advised  and  encour- 
aged to  do  so. 


APPENDIX. 


69 


In  order  to  promote  this  end,  and  at  the  same  time  define  the  status  of  the 
former  slaves,  and  assure  them  of  their  freedom  and  of  protection  therein,  Gen. 
Schofield  issued,  very  wisely,  the  following  order : 

(  Headquarters  Dkpartmbnt  op  North  Carolina. 
\  (Army  op  thk  Ohio.) 

General  Orders  ?  (  Raleiirh,  N.  C.  April  27,  18G5. 

No  3-2.  5 

To  remove  a  doubt  which  seems  to  exist  in  the  minds  of  some  of  the  people  of 
North  Carolina,  it  is  hereby  declared  that  by  virtue  of  the  Proclamation  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  dated  January  1st,  1863,  all  persons  in  this 
State  heretofore  held  as  slaves  are  now  free  ;  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
Army  to  maintain  the  freedom  of  such  persons. 

It  is  recommended  to  the  former  owners  of  the  Freedmen  to  employ  them  as 
hired  servants  at  reasonable  wages.  And  it  is  recommended  to  the  Freedmen 
that  when  allowed  to  do  so,  they  remain  with  their  former  masters,  and  labor 
f,s,ithfully  so  long  as  they  shall  be  treated  kindly  and  paid  reasonable  wages, 
or  that  they  immediately  seek  employment  elsewhere,  in  the  kind  of  work  to 
which  they  are  accustomed.  It  is  not  well  for  them  to  congregate  about  towns 
or  Military  Camps.  They  will  not  be  supported  in  idleness. 
By  command  of  Major-General  Schofield. 

J.  A.  CAMPBELL,  Assist.  Adj't  General. 

The  foregoing  order  did  not,  however,  become  immediately  known  to  all  the 
people.  The  negroes  were  plied  in  many  cases  with  abuse  and  falsehood,  and 
made  to  believe  that  after  the  departure  of  the  troops  they  would  be  slaves  pre- 
cisely as  before.  While  they  were  in  this  transition  state,  scarcely  knowing 
whether  they  were  or  were  not  free,  —  a  point  made  still  more  uncertain  to 
them  by  the  untimely  death  of  their  grea*-  Deliverer,  Abraham  Lincoln,  —  the 
efforts  and  counsels  of  my  assistant  superintendents  were  of  great  value  to  these 
bewildered  people.  It  was  noticeable  that  the  negroes  would  not  believe  the 
promises  of  their  old  masters,  however  much  they  had  been  supposed  to  love 
them,  but  would  confide  implicitly  in  the  statements  of  Northern  men  whom  they 
never  saw  before,  and  who  told  them  they  had  rights  of  their  own  which  white 
men  even  were  bound  to  respect.  It  will  be  necessary  for  such  mediators  to 
stand  between  the  colored  people  and  the  old  aristocracy,  that  once  presumed  to 
own  them,  until  the  feelings  and  habits  of  both  classes  have  become  adjusted  to 
the  altered  conditions  of  society.  The  general  government  having  stricken  off 
their  shackles,  and  pledged  fi-eedom  to  the  colored  race,  should  stand  god-father 
to  these  simple  children  of  nature,  and  throw  the  strong  arm  of  its  protection 
around  them,  until  they  are  confessed  to  be  free  men  and  citizens,  and  willingly 
treated  as  such  by  the  dominant  race.  In  order  to  introduce  a  uniform  practice 
in  respect  to  the  Freedmen  in  North  Carolina,  and  provide  for  the  settlement 
of  all  cases  that  might  arise,  and  bring  the  whole  subject  under  military  con- 
trol. Gen.  Schofield  promulgated  in  General  Orders  a  series  of  rules  intended 
to  cover  the  whole  ground,  as  follows  : 

(  Headquarters  Department  op    North  Carolina, 
\  (Army  op  the  Ohio.) 

General  Orders  )  (  Raleigh,  N.  C.  May  15,  1£65. 

No  40.  j 

The  following  rules  are  published  for  the  government  of  Freedmen  in  North 
Carolina,  until  the  restoration  of  civil  government  in  the  State  : 


60  APPENDIX. 

I.  The  common  laws  governing  the  domestic  relations,  such  as  those  giving 
parents  authority  and  control  over  their  children,  and  guardians  control  over 
their  wards,  are  in  force.  The  parent's  or  guardian's  authority  and  obligations 
take  the  place  of  those  of  the  former  master. 

II.  The  former  masters  are  constituted  the  guardians  of  minors  and  of  the 
aged  and  infirm,  in  the  absence  of  parents  or  other  near  relatives  capable  of 
supporting  them. 

III.  Young  men  and  women,  under  twenty-one  years  of  age,  remain  under 
the  control  of  their  parents  or  guardians  until  they  become  of  age,  thus  aiding 
to  support  their  parents,  and  younger  brothers  and  sisters. 

IV.  The  former  masters  of  Freedmen  may  not  turn  away  the  young  or  the 
infirm,  nor  refuse  to  give  them  food  and  shelter ;  nor  may  the  able-bodied  men 
or  women  go  away  from  their  homes,  or  live  in  idleness,  and  leave  their  parents, 
children,  or  young  brothers  and  sisters  to  be  supported  by  others. 

V.  Persons  of  age,  who  are  free  from  any  of  the  obligations  referred  to 
above,  are  at  liberty  to  find  new  homes  wherever  they  can  obtain  proper  em- 
ployment ;  but  they  will  not  be  supported  by  the  government,  nor  by  their 
former  masters,  unless  they  work. 

VI.  It  will  be  left  to  the  employer  and  servant  to  agree  upon  the  wages  to 
be  paid ;  but  Freedmen  are  advised  that  for  the  present  season  they  ought  to 
expect  only  moderate  wages,  and  where  their  employers  cannot  pay  them 
money,  they  ought  to  be  contented  with  a  fair  share  in  the  crops  to  be  raised. 
They  have  gained  their  personal  fi-eedom.  By  industry  and  good  conduct  they 
may  rise  to  independence  and  even  wealth. 

VII.  All  officers,  soldiers  and  citizens,  are  requested  to  give  publicity  to  these 
rules,  and  to  instruct  the  freed  people  as  to  their  new  rights  and  obligations. 

VIII.  All  officers  of  the  Army,  and  of  the  county  police  companies,  are  au- 
thorized and  required  to  correct  any  violation  of  the  above  rules  within  their 
jurisdiction. 

IX.  Each  District  commander  will  appoint  a  Superintendent  of  Freedmen, 
(a  commissioned  officer,)  with  such  number  of  assistants  (officers  and  non-com- 
missioned officers)  as  may  be  necessary,  whose  duty  it  will  be  to  take  charge 
of  all  the  freed  people  in  his  District,  who  are  without  homes  or  proper  employ- 
ment. The  superintendents  will  send  back  to  their  homes  all  who  have  left 
them  in  violation  of  the  above  rules,  and  will  endeavor  to  find  homes  and  suita- 
ble employment  for  all  others.  They  will  provide  suitable  camps  or  quarters 
for  such  as  cannot  be  otherwise  provided  for,  and  attend  to  their  discipline,  po- 
lice, subsistence,  &c. 

X.  The  superintendents  will  hear  all  complaints  of  guardians  or  wards,  and 
report  the  facts  to  their  District  commanders,  who  are  authorized  to  dissolve  the 
existing  relation  of  guardian  and  ward  in  any  case  which  may  seem  to  require 
it,  and  to  direct  the  superintendent  to  otherwise  provide  for  the  wards,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  above  rules. 

By  command  of  Major-Gexeral  Schofield  . 

J.  A.  CAMPBELL,  Assist.  Adj't  General. 

Whether  or  not  these  rules  were  In  every  respect  the  best  that  could  have 
been  made,  needs  not  to  be  here  discus.sed.  Almost  any  system  Is  preferable  to 
confusion.  But  nearly  at  the  same  time  with  their  promulgation,  Major-General 
O.  O.  Howard  was  appointed  Commissioner  of  the  new  "  Bureau  of  Refugees, 
Freedmen,  and  Abandoned  Lands,"  and  the  system  of  management  proposed 
by  General  Schofield  gave  way  to  the  rules  of  the  new  Bureau.  It  will  be 
needful,  however,  that  there  should  be  a  good  understanding  between  Depart- 
ment commanders  and  the  officers  of  this  Bureau,  otherwise  little  can  be  ac- 
complished.    During  the  last  month,  and  since  the  negroes  have  become  well 


APPENDIX.  61 

assured  tbat  the  war  is  at  an  end,  and  that  they  -will  be  safe  in  the  interior, 
they  have  left  the  towns  in  large  numbers,  and  have  returned  to  their  planta- 
tion residences.  Three  thousand  have  gone  from  New  Berne  alone,  and  as 
many  more  from  Wilmington.  It  is  touching  in  the  extreme  to  witness  the 
happy  meetings  that  take  place  between  parents  and  children,  or  husbands 
and  wives  that  have  not  seen  each  other  since  the  war  began,  or  perha^as  for 
eight,  ten,  or  even  twenty  years.  The  negro  is  demonstrative  in  the  expression 
of  his  feelings,  and  his  domestic  affections  are  very  strong.  If  any  one  can  wit- 
ness without  emotion  or  even  tears,  the  affectionate  meetings  and  greetings  of 
these  people  after  long  absence,  he  must  be  something  either  more  or  less  than 
human. 

After  the  return  of  peace,  and  during  the  month  of  May,  many  of  the  refu- 
gees, both  white  and  black,  were  supplied  by  the  government  with  horses  and 
mules  to  aid  them  in  cultivating  the  soil.  These  animals,  mostly  captured 
during  Gen.  Sherman's  campaign,  were  no  longer  of  use  to  the  army,  and 
were  therefore,  to  the  number  of  four  or  five  hundred,  loaned  out  to  the 
poor  farmers  for  agricultural  purposes.  Of  these  the  colored  people  had  their 
share,  and  most  joyfully  did  they  avail  themselves  of  this  assistance  in  obtain- 
ing for  themselves  and  their  families  a  living. 

No  sooner  was  Wilmington  wrested  from  the  rebels,  than  it  was  explored  by 
the  agents  of  northern  educational  bodies,  and  schools  were  opened  by  the 
American  Missionary  Association.  The  National  Freedmen's  Relief  Associa- 
tion has  also  sent  laborers  there,  and  not  less  than  twelve  northern  teachers  are 
now  occupying  different  points  on  the  Cape  Fear  River.  Schools  have  been 
opened  at  Kinston  and  Goldsboro',  but  they  have  been  thus  far  taught  by- 
chaplains  and  soldiers  from  the  regiments. 

During  the  five  months  of  the  present  year,  all  our  operations  in  behalf  of  the 
Freedmen  in  North  Carolina  have  been  pursued  in  much  the  same  manner  as 
heretofore,  and  with  good  success.  The  changes  experienced  have  been  more 
sudden  than  ever  before,  vibrating  from  the  active  conflicts  of  war  to  the  hushed 
repose  of  peace.  The  negroes  are  adjusting  themselves  as  rapidly  as  possible 
to  their  changed  circumstances,  and  things  generally  look  promising. 

It  is  not  true  in  North  Carolina  that  the  negroes  are  lazy  and  will  not  work. 
Whoever  says  so  bears  flilse  witness  against  his  neighbor.  They  are  industri- 
ous and  energetic,  and  will  be  sure  to  prosper,  unless  the  old  tyranny  is  re-estab- 
lished under  some  other  form.  The  community  need  to  be  cautioned  against 
accepting  without  question  the  statements  of  enemies.  If  unscrupulous  false- 
hood can  create  the  impression  that  negro  freedom  is  a  failure,  it  will  do  it. 
But  all  honest  investigations  will  show  the  contrary. 

The  colored  people  greatly  desire  to  learn.  They  are  enthusiastic  and  per- 
severing in  their  efforts  in  this  behalf  They  have  an  idea  that  knowledge  is 
power,  and  that  it  has  given  to  the  Yankees  their  great  success,  and  this  thought 
stimulates  them  to  exertion.  The  boon  they  crave  above  all  others,  is  knowl- 
ed<Te.  They  believe  it  will  assure  them  rights,  influence,  position,  and  consider- 
ation. In  this  way  they  hope  to  vote,  and  to  acquire  property,  to  become  land- 
holders, and  citizens  in  full.     And  now  that  the  national  battle  is  won,  it  is  to 


62  APPENDIX. 

be  hoped  they  may  nol  be  disappointed.  If  this  war,  terminated  as  it  has  been 
in  the  success  of  the  Union  arms,  means  anything,  it  iaeans  that  thought  and 
speech  and  instruction  at  the  South  are  now  and  forever  free.  If  it  be  not  so, 
we  had  better  go  to  fighting  again.  The  last  school-teacher  has  been  banished. 
The  last  preacher  of  liberty  has  been  silenced.  The  last  propagandist  of  liberal 
ideas  has  been  hooted  and  proscribed  by  a  tyranneous  and  brutal  p'  olic  opin- 
ion. An  idea  may  now  march,  with  the  step  of  a  conqueror,  over  every  foot 
of  Southern  soil.  The  shadow  of  Bunker  Hill  monument  reaches  to  the  Rio 
Grande.  Over  this  whole  area  truth  and  error  may  now  grapple  upon  a  fair 
field,  and  the  right  will  have  no  odds  against  her. 

Sooner  or  later  ne^ro  siyfra^e  must  come,  not  however  without  earnest  and 
protracted  agitation.  While  several  of  the  powerful  free  states  of  the  North 
are  still  holding  the  black  man  aloof  from  the  ballot  box,  it  was  hardly  to  be 
expected  that  he  should  emerge  from  abject  slavery  in  the  South,  and  rise  at 
one  bound  to  this  high  privilege  of  citizenship.  But  he  is  fast  vindicating  his 
fitness  for  it,  by  the  sword,  by  mental  progress,  by  dignified  acceptance  of  his 
new  condition,  and  a  certain  noble  bearing  in  it,  and  he  will  do  it  yet  more  by 
his  industry,  thrift,  economy,  and  evident  fitness  to  become  the  honest  Ameri- 
can yeoman,  paying  his  taxes,  bearing  the  burdens  of  society,  and  conti-ibuting 
to  the  common  welfare. 

As  great  interest  is  felt  at  the  present  time,  in  the  new  Bureau  of  Freedmen's 
Affairs,  the  act  of  Congress  establishing  the  Scune  is  here  given. 

AN  ACT  to  establish  a  Bureau  for  the  Relief  of  Freedmen  and  Refugees. 

Be  it  enacted,  By  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States 
of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  That  there  is  hereby  established  in  the  VVar 
Department,  to  continue  during  the  present  war  of  rebellion,  and  tor  one  year 
thereafter,  a  bureau  of  refugees,  (reedmen,  and  abandoned  lands,  to  which 
shall  be  committed,  as  hereinafter  provided,  the  supervision  and  management 
of  all  abandoned  lands,  and  the  control  ofall  suijects  relating  to  refugees  and 
freedmen  from  rebel  states,  or  from  any  district  of  country  within  the  territory 
embraced  in  the  operations  of  the  army,  under  such  rules  and  regulations  as 
may  be  prescribed  by  the  head  of  the  bureau  and  approved  by  the  President. 
The  said  bureau  shall  be  under  the  management  and  control  of  a  commissioner 
to  be  appointed  by  the  President,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate,  whose  compensation  shall  be  three  thousand  dollars  per  annum,  and 
such  numbpf  of  clerks  as  may  be  assigned  to  him  by  the  Secretary  of  War, 
not  exceeding  one  chief  clerk,  two  ot  the  fourth  class,  two  of  the  tnird  class, 
and  five  of  the  first  class.  And  the  commissioner  and  all  persons  appointed 
under  this  act,  shall,  before  entering  upon  their  duties,  take  the  oath  of  olfice 
prescribed  in  an  act  entitled,  "  An  act  to  prescribe  an  oath  of  olhce,  and  for 
other  purposes,"  approved  July  second,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-two,  and 
the  commissioner  and  the  chief  clerk  shall,  before  entering  upon  their  duties, 
give  bonds  to  the  treasurer  otthe  United  States,  the  former  in  the  sum  of  fifty 
thousand  dollars,  and  the  latter  in  the  sum  ot  ten  thousand  dollars,  conditioned 
for  the  faithtul  discharge  of  their  duties  respectively,  with  securities  to  be  ap- 
proved as  sufiicient  by  the  Attorney-General,  which  bonds  shall  be  filed  in  the 
office  of  the  first  comptroller  of  the  tieasury,  to  be  by  him  put  m  suit  tor  the 
benefit  of  any  injured  party  upon  any  breach  of  the  condition  thereof. 

Sec.  2.     And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  Secretary  of  VVar  may  direct 
such  issues  of  provisions,  clothing,  and  fuel,  as  hu  may  deem  needful  tor  *he 


APPENDIX.  63 

immediate  and  temporary  shelter  and  supply  of  destitute  and  suffering  refu- 
gees and  freedmen  and  their  wives  and  children,  under  such  rules  and  regula- 
tions as  he  may  direct. 

Sec.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  President  may,  by  and  -with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  appoint  an  assistant  commissioner  for 
each  of  the  States  declared  to  be  in  insuriection,  not  exceeding  ten  in  number, 
•who  shall,  under  the  directioQ  of  the  commissioner,  aid  in  the  execution  of  the 
provisions  of  this  act ;  and  he  shall  give  a  bond  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  United 
States,  in  the  sum  of  twenty  thousand  dollars,  in  the  form  and  manner  pre- 
scribed in  the  first  section  of  this  act.  Each  of  said  commissioners  shall  re- 
ceive an  annual  salary  of  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  in  full  compensa- 
tion for  all  his  services.  And  any  military  officer  may  be  detailed  and  assigned 
to  duty  under  this  act  without  increase  of  pay  or  allowances.  The  commis- 
sioner shall,  before  the  commencement  of  each  regular  session  of  Congress, 
make  full  report  ot  his  proceedings  with  exhibits  of  the  state  of  his  accounts  to 
the  President,  who  shall  communicate  the  same  to  Congress,  and  shall  also 
make  special  reports  whenever  required  to  do  so  by  the  President  or  either 
house  of  Congress ;  and  the  assistant  commissioners  shall  make  quarterly  reports 
of  their  proceedings  to  the  commissioner,  and  also  such  other  special  reports 
as  from  time  to  time  may  be  required. 

Sec.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  commissioner,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  President,  shall  have  authority  to  set  apart,  for  the  use  of  loyal  ref- 
ugees and  freedmen,  such  tracts  of  land  within  the  insurrectionary  States  as 
shall  have  been  abandoned,  or  to  which  the  United  States  shall  have  acquired 
title  by  confiscation  or  sale,  or  otherwise,  and  to  every  male  citizen,  whether 
refugee  or  freedman,  as  aforesaid,  there  shall  be  assigned  not  more  than  forty 
acres  of  such  land,  and  the  person  to  whom  it  was  so  assigned  shall  be  pro- 
tected in  the  use  and  enjoyment  of  the  land  for  the  term  of  three  years  at  an 
annual  rent  not  exceeding  six  per  centum  upon  the  value  of  such  land,  as  it 
was  appraised  by  the  State  authorities  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty, 
for  the  purpose  of  taxation,  and  in  case  no  such  appraisal  can  be  found,  then 
the  rental  shall  be  based  upon  the  estimated  value  of  the  land  in  said  year,  to 
be  ascertained  in  such  manner  as  the  commissioner  may  by  regulation  pre- 
scribe. At  the  end  of  said  term,  or  at  any  time  during  said  term,  the  occu- 
pants of  any  parcels  so  assigned  may  purchase  the  land  and  receive  such  title 
thereto  as  the  United  States  can  convey,  upon  paying  therefor  the  value  of 
the  land,  as  ascertained  and  fixed  for  the  purpose  of  determining  the  annual 
rent  aforesaid. 

Sec.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  acts  and  parts  of  acts  inconsistent 
■with  the  provisions  of  this  act,  are  hereby  repealed. 

Approved,  March  3,  1865. 

Major-General  O.  O.  Howard,  so  favorably  known  to  the  country  as  the 
brave  Commander  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  was  placed  at  the  head  of  this 
Bureau  by  the  President,  on  the  12th  of  May,  1865.  A  more  fitting  choice  could 
not  be  made,  nor  one  more  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  the  people. 

If  any  one  asks  what  will  be  the  policy  of  General  Howard  in  the  practical 
working  of  this  bureau  ?  it  may  be  answered,  without  violating  his  confidence, 
that  he  desires, 

1.  The  education  of  all  the  Southern  people,  white  and  black. 

2.  Fair  play  for  the  Freedmen  and  refugees  of  the  South,  that  they  may  re- 
trieve their  fortunes  by  their  own  industry. 

3.  Settlement  of  these  people  upon  the  soil,  and  the  permanent  occupancy  of 
farms  of  their  own. 


64  APPENDIX. 

To  favor  these  ends,  he  invites  the  earnest  co-operation  of  all  benevolent  as- 
sociations and  persons,  all  educational  and  missionary  societies,  all  churches  and 
civil  organizations,  in  the  work  of  reorganizing  society  at  the  South,  it  being 
the  purpose  of  the  Bureau  "  not  to  supersede  the  benevolent  agencies  already 
engaged  in  it,  buc  only  to  systematize  and  facilitate  them." 

Never  did  a  fairer  field  of  endeavor  open  before  any  man,  though  there  will 
be  many  obstacles  to  success.  But  let  not  one  of  them  be  a  faint  heart  on  the 
part  of  the  friends  of  the  Freedmen.  Our  work  is  just  begun  ;  years  are  neces- 
sary to  its  completion.  Latent  in  our  successful  appeal  to  arms  are  unspeak  ible 
blessings  for  the  whole  South,  both  oppressors  and  oppressed.  They  are  I )  be 
developed  slowly  and  by  peaceful  processes,  like  the  healing  ministries  of  nature 
and  the  restoring.grace  of  God.  Let  us  address  ourselves  br  ,  ^xy  to  the  work, 
and  place  at  least  one  thousand  teachers  in  the  South  this  very  autumn.  Let 
Northern  capital  and  Northern  men  go  in  and  possess  the  land.  Then  shall  the 
■wilderness  smile  with  plen!;/,  and  the  desert  shall  blossom  as  the  rose. 

I  only  remark  in  closing  this  somewhat  rambling  appendix,  that  I  was  ap- 
pointed Commissioner  of  the  Bureau  of  Refugees,  Freedmen,  and  Abandoned 
Lands,  for  North  Carolina,  but  am  to  be  relieved  at  my  own  request  by  General 
Howard,  who  has  designated  Lieut.  Col.  E.  Whittlesey  as  Commissioner  for  North 
Carolina,  with  his  headquarters  at  Raleigh.  For  a  short  time  longer  my  labors 
will  be  associated  with  his.  I  am  most  happy  to  turn  over  these  duties  to  a 
gentleman  so  admirably  qualified  to  discharge  them. 

An  expression  of  gratitude  is  due  to  my  assistants,  Mr.  Samuel  S.  Ashley,  at 
Wilmington,  Mr.  Frederic  A.  Fiske,  at  Morehead  City,  and  Mr.  Edward  E. 
Johnson,  of  New  Berne,  for  the  diligence  and  fidelity  with  which  they  have 
discharged  their  duties. 

HORACE    JAMES, 

Capt.,  and  A.  Q.  M., 
Assist.  Com'r  Bur.  of  Eef  s  Freedmen  and  Aban.  Lands. 


